The StandDown Texas Project

A Louisiana Death Penalty Hot Spot

KTBS-TV posts, "Defense attorneys call Caddo Parish a death penalty 'hot spot'," by Sara Machi.

Caddo Parish assistant district attorney Dale Cox doesn't apologize for the office's capital conviction rate but says that's the reason for so many of office's current problems.

"The state board is very concerned about the Caddo Parish- number one- because the district attorney's office seeks the death penalty here," Cox said. "Number two: jurors in Caddo Parish award the death penalty."

Once the Caddo Parish District Attorney's Office files a motion to seek the death penalty against a given suspect, the Louisiana Public Defender Board steps in and assigns a defense team. In northwest Louisiana, those services have traditionally been covered by Capital Assistance Project of Louisiana, or CAPOLA. That organization, however, lost its state contract in July after a series of convictions and future of some local cases is now in uncharted territory.

And:

Louisiana jurors sentenced 13 men to death between 2009 and 2014. Caddo Parish accounts for 46% of those cases.

When you look at the more than 80 people on death row in Angola, one in five was tried in a Caddo courtroom, more than any other parish.

Death penalty opponents say the statistics show that capital punishment is not a result of the crime committed, but instead of the geography in which it occurred.

Since reinstatement of the death penalty in the modern era, the south has accounted for 82% of executions. Within that region, there are some jurisdictions that sentences a disproportionately high number of people to die. A look at the 15 counties which have executed to most people since 1976 reveals nine in Texas alone.

"Agency handling area death penalty defense services could close by the end of the year," also by Sara Machi, was posted on September 2 by KTBS.

Tensions ran high Tuesday afternoon as the Caddo District Attorney's Office, local defense attorneys, and a state regulator argued over funds for death penalty cases.

The Louisiana Public Defender Board says it doesn't have the money to pay for expert witnesses ahead of Kenneth Willis' October 13 trial, so defense attorneys want proceedings pushed back until they can find the funds.

To make matters worse, the state board stopped funding Shreveport-based Capital Assistance Project of Louisiana, or CAPOLA. LPDB Capital Case Coordinator Jean Faria says, the decision was the result of two death penalty verdicts back-to-back.

Earlier coverage from Louisiana begins at the link.  Related posts are in the indigent defense and geographic disparity category indexes.  A recent analysis of death penalty prosecutions shows that only 10 counties in America are responsible for 25% of the executions

10 Counties = 25% of Executions

National Journal posts, "Why Are So Many People Getting Sentenced to Death in Houston?"  It's by Dustin Volz.  You can see the entire list at the link.

Just 10 U.S. counties—roughly 0.3 percent of the nation's total—account for more than a quarter of all the American executions that have been carried out since 1976.

Texas's Harris County, which includes Houston, is far and away the leader in executions during that period. That district has handed out 122 death sentences that were carried to completion, more than double the next highest. Harris County alone is responsible for more executions than any state besides Texas.

Dallas County, which includes the Dallas-Fort Worth area, comes in second at 53.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity, prosecution and sentencing category index.  You can also jump to coverage of a 2013 DPIC report on county prosecutions of capital punishment and to two sets of maps showing death penalty prosecutions by location.

Radley Balko on America's 2% Death Penalty

"U.S. Counties Killing The Most People Are Good At Getting Death Penalty, Not So Good At Justice," is by Radley Balko at Huffington Post.  Here's the beginning:

Just 2 percent of counties in America are responsible for more than half the nation's executions, and those same counties have been responsible for a disproportionate share of high-profile prosecutorial misconduct and exonerations following wrongful convictions.

In a report released last month, the Death Penalty Information Center found that 2 percent of counties, as well as being responsible for a majority of executions, can also claim credit for 56 percent of the current death row population. What's more, just 15 percent of U.S. counties account for all of the executions since 1976, according to the DPIC.

There are lots of different ways to think about these figures. And my Huffington Post colleagues Katy Hall and Jan Diehm have broken them down with some informative graphics. Since only 32 states have the death penalty, perhaps it shouldn't be terribly surprising that such a small percentage of counties account for such a large portion of executions, particularly if most of them are counties with large populations. (And that seems to be the case, although these counties aren't all necessarily the largest in their respective states.) At the very least, it is more evidence that the death penalty is applied inconsistently.

But what, if anything, do these numbers say about justice and fairness in these counties that are populating the country's cells on death row?

Earlier coverage of the Death Penalty Information Center's latest report is at the link.

How the Death Penalty is Linked to Resources

That's the title of Jon Gould's must-read post at the Life of the Law blog.  Gould is at American University.

The Death Penalty Information Center recently released a report showing that a majority of executions in the United States since 1976 have been carried out by just 2 percent of the nation’s 3100+ counties. Among the ten most punitive counties, seven are in Texas.

Missing in DPIC’s report is an explanation for why such a small number of counties imposes such a large percentage of the nation’s death sentences. Perhaps more heinous crimes occur there. Maybe residents are more retributive; they elect prosecutors who seek the death penalty more often and fill juries that are more willing to choose the a death sentence over life in prison.  After all, we live in a federal, not national, legal system.  Different communities are allowed to express their will through varying sentences, and the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty does not offend the Constitution or Bill of Rights so long as it is limited to adults and is not applied discriminately on the basis of race.

But what if the federal death penalty shows geographic disparities, and what if those differences are linked to the resources made available to capital defendants? In 2010, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts released a report I co-authored showing significant geographic variation in the resources provided to defendants in federal capital cases. “Resources” here mean lawyer time, investigators, and other experts, including psychologists and mitigation specialists.  Although capital defendants received a median $465,000 for their defense at trial, the amounts varied by location.  In federal court in Connecticut, for example, the average defendant received $1.2 million (yes, that’s a lot of money, but capital cases are expensive—in fact, the prosecution costs more), whereas the federal court in Georgia provided only $132,000 in defense resources.  More troubling, those levels were linked to case outcomes. Defendants within the lowest third of case costs had twice the risk of a death sentence than others receiving greater defense support.

And:

If the Constitution is to mean anything, a federal defendant should have the same chance at a quality defense in one federal court as he does in another. Furthermore, the resources he receives at trial should not predict his sentence. The late David Baldus opened our eyes to disparate treatment in state capital sentences. Justice Powell said one of his greatest regrets was failing to recognize this pattern as a constitutional violation. Are today’s federal judges missing a constitutional problem right in their own house?

Earlier coverage of the DPIC report begins at the link.

The DPIC report is, "THE 2% DEATH PENALTY: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All."  You can find the full report, executive summary, and news release at the links.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and report category indexes.

Continued Editorial Highlighting of the DPIC Report

Today's Dallas Morning News publishes the editorial, "With death penalty, geography is destiny."

Potter County, population about 122,000, has a lot of people by Texas Panhandle standards, but around Dallas it would be just another suburb.

That doesn’t stop it from being a national death penalty powerhouse.

Responsible for 11 executions since capital punishment resumed in 1976, Potter County ranks 10th of all 3,143 U.S. counties in death sentences carried out, according to a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center. The report illustrates the nation’s grossly uneven use of the death penalty, with 2 percent of the counties responsible for most executions, far out of proportion to their population.

This dreadful phenomenon persists despite the brief national moratorium after a 1972 Supreme Court ruling that declared the death penalty unconstitutional. Among other things, justices cited application that appeared arbitrary and capricious.

Statistics argue that capital punishment is no less arbitrary today and is partly a function of geography and purely local standards of justice. Consider that Potter County put more people in the death chamber than Cuyahoga County, Ohio, with 10 times the population, or even Miami-Dade County, Fla., which has 20 times the population.

Disparities persist also within Texas, as cited in a recent American Bar Association-sponsored analysis. It said more than half the 1,060 Texas death sentences since 1976 were clustered in four counties — Harris, Dallas, Bexar and Tarrant — and that nearly half of Texas’ 254 counties sent no one to death row.

"Report: Some FL Counties Top List for Death Penalty Use," is by Stephanie Carroll Carson for the Orlando Advocate.

Not all counties are created equal when it comes to issuing death penalty sentences in Florida, or the rest of the country. According to a new report by the Death Penalty Information Center,Florida leads the nation for the number of death sentences handed down in the last two years, and has the second-largest death row population in the country. Duval, Clay and Nassau Counties top the list, and all are in the 4th Judicial District.

Political scientist Frank Baumgartner, a professor at the University of North Carolina, explained why there seems to be a concentration in certain areas.

"The small number of jurisdictions apply the death penalty for some reason, and I think the reason is the development of a local prosecutorial culture," he said.

Since 1976, the report says just four states - Florida, Texas, Virginia, and Oklahoma - have been responsible for almost 60 percent of the country's executions. And nationwide, just 2 percent of counties account for a majority of death row inmates.

Baumgartner said that once a death sentence is handed down in a county, prosecutors there are more likely to pursue the punishment in other cases.

Earlier coverage of the DPIC report begins at the link.

The DPIC report is, "THE 2% DEATH PENALTY: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All."  You can find the full report, executive summary, and news release at the links.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and report category indexes.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram on the DPIC Report

Today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram publishes the editorial, "Study: 7 of top 10 counties with most executions are in Texas."

Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, Texas has had the distinction of being what some call “the capital of capital punishment.”

With more than 500 executions, the Lone Star State is far out in front of all others when it comes to putting people to death.

But a new study released Wednesday by the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., notes even more revealing factors — indeed disparities —about this state’s application of the death penalty. It examines executions, death row populations and capital sentences by county.

The report, “The 2% Death Penalty: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All,” says that just 2 percent of U.S. counties have been responsible for the majority of executions, most of the population on death row and a majority of recent death sentences.

Of the top 10 counties within that 2 percent that have produced the most executions in the country, seven are in Texas, with Harris and Dallas counties ranked Nos. 1 and 2, Tarrant No. 4 and Bexar No. 5. Those four counties, while among the most populous, account for almost half of the executions in a state with 254 counties.

“Death sentences depend more on the location of the county line than on the severity of the crime,” the report said, while also noting that “Texas alone has accounted for 38 percent of the nation’s executions.”

There is also continuing news coverage.  AFP posts, "Most US executions done in just 2% of counties: study."

More than half of US executions take place in just two percent of counties in the United States, a new study found Thursday.

The Death Penalty Information Center also said that inmates in a handful of California, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania counties account for the bulk of death row inmates.

Nationwide, just two percent of counties are responsible for 56 percent of offenders living on death row, even though 85 percent of US counties have not executed a single person in more than 45 years.

In all, 62 of 3,143 counties in the United States have executed 685 death row inmates -- 52 percent of the 1,320 total across the country -- since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Among the counties that execute the most were seven in Texas, two in neighboring Oklahoma and one in Missouri.

Bob Egelko writes, "Death penalty study: 25% of cases from 10 counties," for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Out of more than 3,100 convicted murderers on death rows nationwide, over a quarter have come from just 10 counties, which include Alameda County and four others in California, a new report says.

While the annual number of death sentences in the United States is lower than it has been in about four decades, a large proportion of condemned prisoners come from a relatively small number of counties "where seeking death sentences has been a high priority," said the Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment.

"Half of all death penalties in U.S. occur in only two percent of all counties," at Catholic Online.

The study also showed that death sentences are at their lowest level in four decades. Furthermore, 85 percent of all counties have not had a single person executed in more than 45 years.

The study did find that criminal offenders in the states of California, Texas, Oklahoma and Florida have a disproportionate chance of ending up on death row. Even then only a small number of counties remain responsible for the wide majority of death penalty sentences in the U.S.

Only 62 of the 3,143 counties in the U.S. were responsible for 52 percent of all death row inmates executed since 1976.

"People here believe in the death penalty but not in a death penalty that's unfair," Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center and the study's author says. "And that's the one that exists in practice."

The Southern states account for more than 80 percent of executions, with Texas leading at 38 percent. Even then, great internal disparities exist in these states.

The DPIC report is, "THE 2% DEATH PENALTY: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All."  You can find the full report, executive summary, and news release at the links.

Earlier coverage of the report begins at the link.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and report category indexes.

Additional News Coverage of the DPIC Report

The latest Death Penalty Information Center report is, "THE 2% DEATH PENALTY: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All."  You can find the full report, executive summary, and news release at the links.

The National Journal reports, "2 Percent of U.S. Counties Account for Most of America's Executions," by Dustin Volz.

Death-penalty opponents may have another talking point to add to their growing list of grievances about capital punishment: Just 2 percent of U.S. counties account for most of the country's death row population and executions, according to a study released today by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Through last year, 62 counties—or about 2 percent of the nation's 3,143—have executed 685 death-row inmates, or 52 percent, of the 1,320 total in the U.S. since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Texas's Harris County, which comprises Houston, led all counties with 115 executions. Dallas County was second with 50.

"The death penalty in practice has proved to be administered unfairly, and this is another example of that," Richard Dieter, DPIC's executive director, told National Journal. "The theory is the worst of the worst get the death penalty, but the reality is those that do are in high urban cities where prosecutors have lots of resources."

Death-penalty debates often get reduced to a breakdown of which states still execute (32) and which don't (18). It's generally known that a handful of states such as Texas, Florida, and Ohio carry out the majority of executions, but the county-by-county breakdown, like one might find in an analysis of presidential elections, provides more insight on the geographically small footprint of capital punishment in the U.S.

US News & World Report posts, "Report: Small Number of U.S. Counties Responsible for Most Death Sentences," by Ethan Rosenberg.

Though 18 states have abolished the death penalty, the study found only nine states carried out executions in 2012 and expected fewer to do so in 2013. Only 20 percent of counties had inmates on death row and 85 percent hadn't had an execution in 45 years.

"The relatively few prosecutors who drive the death penalty create enormous burdens for those outside their district. The rest of the country is paying a high tariff on behalf of the small percentage of counties that are actually using the death penalty," Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center and author of the report, said in a statement.

A 2008 Urban Institute report found in Maryland, for example, a case in which prosecutors successfully argue for the death penalty will cost about $3 million on average. Cases where prosecutors were unable to secure a death sentence cost $1.8 million. In May 2012, however, Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley signed a bill abolishing capital punishment.

"Study: Majority of U.S. executions originate in 2% of counties," is by Natasha Lennard at Salon.

The death penalty in the U.S. is handed down according to vagaries of just a few harsh counties, a new study finds.

The Death Penalty Information Center in Washington reported this week that of the 1,348 executions that have taken place in the US since the death penalty restarted in 1976, more than half originated in only 2 percent of counties.

Given these statistics, any juridical claims (the very claims that ended a 1972 Supreme Court death penalty ban in the U.S.) that executions are determined in a fair and equitable fashion are laughable.

Aljazeera America posts, "Majority of US executions stem from 2 percent of counties, study finds," by Lisa De Bode.

Death sentences are at their lowest level in four decades – 85 percent of all counties have not had a single person executed in more than 45 years according to the study – but criminal offenders in the states of California, Texas, Oklahoma and Florida have a disproportionate chance of ending up on death row, with a small number of counties responsible for a majority of death penalty sentences across the country.

Research also revealed that just 62 of the 3,143 counties in the U.S. were responsible for 52% of all death row inmates executed since 1976.

The authors of the study say the results dispel the view that the death penalty is widely practiced across the U.S. and that the use of execution is well supported.

"This Texas County Kills More People Than Any Other County In America," is the Business Insider report by Christina Sterbenz.

Since 1976, Harris County, Texas has executed more criminals than any other U.S. county, according to a study from the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). The county includes Houston, Texas' largest city.

The results show that more than half of America's executions since 1976 come from only 2% of its counties. And Harris County tops the list. Los Angeles leads the U.S. in putting people on death row — but it hasn't killed as many criminals as Harris County.

Within the top 1%, 15 counties comprise 30% of nationwide executions. Harris County killed more inmates than any other county in that group. It has executed 115 people since 1976. The next-highest, Dallas County, executed just 50 people in that period.

Harris County has been sharply criticized for the way it handles death penalty cases.

"Report: Philly a leader in death-penalty cases," is at Philly.com.

Philadelphia has the third largest population of death row inmates nationwide, yet ranked lowest in Pennsylvania in how much attorneys representing those inmates got paid, according to a study released yesterday by the Death Penalty Information Center.

That means capital convictions in Pennsylvania frequently get reversed on appeal and later reduced to life sentences, due to inadequate representation, according to the Washington, D.C.-based center.

"St. Louis City Among 15 Counties Leading Nation in US Executions, Study Says," from KMOX-AM.

Since 1976, St. Louis County has been responsible for 13 executions, that’s the 8th most in the nation. St. Louis City ties for 11th most, with 11 executions.

Dieter says Missouri ranks 5th overall for most executions since 1976, with 68. Currently there are now 48 inmates on Missouri’s death row.

Earlier coverage of the DPIC report is from yesterday.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and report category indexes.

New Report From DPIC

The Death Penalty Information Center has issued a new report, "THE 2% DEATH PENALTY: How a Minority of Counties Produce Most Death Cases at Enormous Costs to All."  You can find the full report, executive summary, and news release at the links.

Here is some of the inital news coverage:

"Study: Very small number of counties responsible for most executions," at CBS News.

Only two percent of the counties in the U.S. have executed the majority of death row inmates since 1976, a new study finds.

This disparate use of capital punishment puts a large financial burden on the overwhelming majority of jurisdictions that do not kill inmates, because the process of convicting, housing and ultimately putting to death convicts is incredibly expensive, more so than simply locking them up for life, according to the study from the Death Penalty Information Center.

In addition to those inmates put to death, the study states that "only 2 percent of the counties are responsible for the majority of today's death row population and recent death sentences. To put it another way, all of the state executions since the death penalty was reinstated stem from cases in just 15 percent of the counties in the U.S. All of the 3,125 inmates on death row as of January 1, 2013 came from just 20 percent of the counties."

The ABA Journal posts, "A 2 percent death penalty? Capital sentences are concentrated in just a few counties, report says," by Debra Cassens Weiss.

Only 2 percent of the counties in the United States have been responsible 52 percent of the executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, according to a new report by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Similarly, only 2 percent of U.S. counties are responsible for 56 percent of today’s death-row population, the report (PDF) says. Eighty percent of the counties in the U.S. currently have no one on death row.

And:

“Contrary to the assumption that the death penalty is widely practiced across the country,” the report says, “it is actually the domain of a small percentage of U.S. counties in a handful of states.”

The top 10 counties among the 2 percent responsible for more than half of the nation’s death row population are: Los Angeles County, Calif.; Harris County, Texas; Philadelphia County, Pa.; Maricopa County, Ariz.; Riverside County, Calif.; Clark County, Nev.; Orange County, Calif.; Duval County, Fla.; Alameda County, Calif.; and San Diego County, Calif.

"A Few Counties Drive U.S. Death Penalty System, Report Says, " by Maggie Clark at Stateline.

County prosecutors in 12 states were responsible for the execution of 685 death row inmates, or 52 percent of all executions, since 1976, according to a new report from the Death Penalty Information Center.

These prosecutors in 54 counties represent just 2 percent of the nation’s counties, the report said. The death penalty was reinstated in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court, after ordering states to rewrite their death penalty statutes to provide more protections from arbitrary or wrongful convictions.

Texas leads the country in this time period with 505 executions. The counties with the most death penalty convictions are: Harris County (115 convictions) and Dallas County (50), both in Texas; Oklahoma County, Oklahoma (38); and Tarrant County (37) and Bexar County (35), also both in Texas.

Few murder convictions result in a death sentence. There were more than 600,000 murders and non-negligent manslaughter crimes reported between 1976 and 2012, according to the FBI uniform crime report. In that same period, there were 1,320 executions.

"Majority of US executions come from just 2% of counties, report finds," by Ed Pilington at the Guardian.

The arbitrary nature of the death penalty as practiced in the US is laid bare in a new study that shows that just 2% of counties across the nation have generated most of the executions in the past 40 years.

A new report from the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington shows that of the 1,348 executions that have taken place in the US since the death penalty restarted in 1976, more than half originated in only 2% of counties. Under the US judicial system, the decision to launch a capital case lies with district attorneys at the county level.

Put another way, 15% of the counties of America have given rise to all the state executions to be carried out in the modern era. The argument that has been played out at the highest levels of US jurisprudence, that the death penalty is administered in a fair and equitable fashion within the federal system, is belied by the vastly divergent facts on the ground.

The finding of such unequal distribution – including the fact that all of the 3,125 inmates currently on death row in America came from just 20% of the counties – has potentially significant legal consequences. The US supreme court imposed a ban on the death penalty in 1972 on grounds that it was practised in an arbitrary and random fashion, and only allowed it to restart four years later once new guidelines had been issued to jurors.

Several outlets focus on local implications.  The Washington Post reports, "Study: Prince William, Fairfax among counties that account for majority of U.S. executions," by Rachel Weiner.

Harris County, Tex., executed 115 inmates, by far the largest total of any county. Jurisdictions in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arizona had executions numbering in the double digits.

In Northern Virginia, Prince William County had nine death row inmates who were executed, and Fairfax County had five.

Among the most high-profile executions arising from a Prince William case was that of John Allen Muhammad, who was part of a sniper team that gunned down 10 people in the Washington area in 2002. Federal authorities chose to prosecute Muhammad in Prince William in part because of Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul B. Ebert’s record in capital cases. He has sent more than a dozen people to Virginia’s death row.

Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said the study shows that criminals face vastly different odds depending on where their crimes were committed.

“There’s an arbitrariness to the death penalty,” he said. “Most of the counties in Virginia have never had an execution in this modern era.”

"Los Angeles County leads the U.S. in imposing the death penalty," is LA Times coverage by David G. Savage.

Although Texas executes far more prisoners than any other state, Los Angeles and three other Southern California counties lead the nation in sentencing convicts to die, according to a report released Wednesday.

Los Angeles County had 228 inmates on death row at the start of the year, more than double that of second-place Harris County, Texas. Riverside, Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino counties also ranked in the top 12, as did Alameda and Sacramento counties. In all, seven of the top 12 were in California.

The data were compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington to show how capital punishment is concentrated in relatively few places in the United States.

"The death penalty is not as American or as widespread as people might assume. It is clustered in a few counties," said Richard Dieter, the group's executive director.

Because most criminal cases are prosecuted by county district attorneys, not state officials, Dieter examined the death penalty data by county. Some district attorneys regularly seek death sentences, while others never do, he said.

"Majority of U.S. executions from 2 percent of counties," by Alan Johnson for the Columbus Dispatch.

Just 2 percent of counties in the nation – including Hamilton and Cuyahoga in Ohio – are responsible for the majority of executions and people on Death Row in the U.S., according to a new report.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit clearinghouse for capital punishment information, said 85 percent of all counties in the U.S. have had no death sentences since 1976 when the death penalty resumed nationally.

And:

Hamilton County in Ohio is No. 16 on the national list with 10 executions since 1976 and 28 inmates on Death Row as of Jan. 1 this year. Cuyahoga County ranked 29th with seven executions and 23 people under death sentences. Franklin and other large Ohio counties do not appear on the list.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and report category indexes.

Ohio Joint Task Force - Update

"Ohio death penalty review panel to meet again," from the AP, via Martins Ferry Times Leader.  

The committee examining capital punishment in Ohio and reviewing possible changes to the state's death penalty law is ready to meet again. 

The task force convened by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O'Connor is divided on issues involving the role that geography and race play in determining who becomes eligible for the death penalty. 

The committee, which meets Thursday in Columbus, recently proposed restricting the use of capital punishment by eliminating cases where an aggravated murder was committed during a burglary, robbery or rape. 

But some members who oppose such a change, including prosecutors on the panel, weren't present for that vote and others. 

Any major recommendation would need legislative approval, which is not guaranteed in what remains a death penalty friendly state. 

More information is at the Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio's Death Penalty website.

Earlier coverage of the Joint Task Force's work is at the link; also available, more recent capital news from Ohio.

The Turning Tide

Canada's National Post examines the state of capital punishment in, "Tide may be turning for U.S. capital punishment as recent votes reveal states divided on life and death issue."  It's by Joseph Brean. Canada, as is the case with every Western democracy other than the United States, does not have capital punishment.  It also contains some excellent infographics.

Public support for capital punishment remains strong, solidly 60% in both the U.S. and Canada, which abolished it in 1976, and came within two dozen House of Commons votes of reinstating it in 1987.

But there are signs this modern period of American justice might not last. In March, Maryland became the most recent of five states in six years to abolish capital punishment.

What these votes have revealed is a country formally divided, state against state, on a life and death issue.

Virginia, Ohio and national leader Texas are lined up against New York, New Mexico and Michigan, with California unsure where to stand, as it curiously registers death sentences but does not carry them out. Only nine states used it in 2012. It was 13 the year before. The national tally is 32 with, 18 without, and closing.

“I think what’s taking place is a gradual movement away from the death penalty that now has, by almost any measure, made it into an institution used by a minority of the population in a minority of the counties,” said James Liebman, professor of law at Columbia Law School in New York.

“But the counties that are using it are sticking to it, and the question really is how long the majority in the U.S. will continue to be prepared to subsidize the use of the penalty by the minority.”

About half of Americans live in a jurisdiction that does not execute. Just one county in 10 returned even a single death sentence over a given year, and only 1% did so at a rate of more than one a year, according to research by Robert Smith, assistant professor of law at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

What this reflects is the geographical pattern of the American death penalty, a lens through which its legal vulnerabilities are being targeted.

Related posts are in the abolition and capital punishment category indexes.

Connecticut Roundup

AP reports, "Connecticut death penalty case delayed pending appeal."  It's via the Middletown Press.

A West Hartford death penalty case won't move forward until after the state Supreme Court decides whether Connecticut's repeal of capital punishment last year is constitutional, a judge ruled Monday.

Hartford Superior Court Judge Joan Alexander postponed proceedings in Eduardo Santiago's case and scheduled a status conference in October.

Santiago, 33, was sentenced to lethal injection in 2005 for the murder-for-hire killing of 45-year-old Joseph Niwinski in West Hartford in 2000. But the state Supreme Court overturned the death sentence and ordered a new penalty phase last year, saying the trial judge wrongly withheld key evidence from the jury regarding the severe abuse Santiago suffered while growing up.

The Supreme Court ruling came two months after the state abolished the death penalty for murders committed after April 24, 2012, leaving Santiago and the 10 other men on death row still facing execution.

The Supreme Court, in another appeal brought by Santiago's lawyers, is now deciding whether the death penalty repeal for future murders violates the constitutional rights of the 11 death row inmates. A ruling isn't expected for at least several months.

Earlier coverage of Eduardo Santiago's case begins at the link.

"Taxpayers' Costs Top $3.5 Million For Death Row Inmates' Lawsuit," is the Hartford Courant report by Jon Lender.

The cost to taxpayers of a long-running racial-bias lawsuit by death-row inmates has topped $3.5 million, with more possible before an expected judge's ruling within a few months — and then a possible appeal by whoever loses.

News coverage of the habeas corpus lawsuit in state Superior Court has centered on the trial late last year of claims by five convicted killers that Connecticut's death penalty is biased racially, ethnically and geographically.

The Courant made a Freedom of Information Act request for records of how much the litigation has cost taxpayers since the lawsuit was filed eight years ago.

And:

The inmates pursuing the bias suit want their sentences converted to life imprisonment without parole. The trial of the case ended in December and Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza is expected to render a decision within several months.

Also:

The trial was conducted for more than 10 days from September to December in a makeshift courtroom inside Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, which houses the state's 11 death-row inmates. The 11 men on death row still face execution despite the state legislature's abolition of the death penalty in 2012. The abolition doesn't apply to people already on death row whose crimes predated the legislation.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias trial begins at the link

More News on Ohio Study Commission

"Reform would limit death penalty to worst killers," is the AP report by Andrew Welsh-Huggins.  It's via the Columbus Dispatch.

Factors that can lead to a death-penalty case such as murders committed during robberies, burglaries or rapes should be stripped from Ohio’s death-penalty law to focus on the worst of the worst killers, a task force studying changes to the law recommends.

The proposal would limit capital prosecutions to cases involving multiple victims, killings of children younger than 13, slayings of police officers and crimes committed to eliminate witnesses, and other very serious crimes, according to the proposal approved this month by the Ohio Supreme Court committee.

The recommendation was based on arguments that elements such as kidnapping and burglary rarely result in death sentences — and when they do, they often carry the greatest risk of racial disparity among defendants.

Numerous Ohio inmates would never have gone to Death Row in the past 30 years had such a rule been in place, including five of the past 10 inmates put to death.

The proposal would eliminate kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary as factors that could lead to a death penalty. The result, supporters say, is a racially neutral law that targets the most-heinous criminals.

“By removing these, you not only get rid of cases that are clearly not in society’s eyes the worst of the worst, you also remove the greatest racial influence in the death penalty,” said State Public Defender Tim Young, chairman of the subcommittee that made the recommendations.

The proposal’s chances are uncertain at best. Lawmakers would have to approve such a sweeping change, and it likely would face stiff opposition from death-penalty supporters and local prosecutors.

And:

Were the changes enacted, Ohio’s law would more closely resemble those of Kansas or New Hampshire, which don’t specify added factors such as robbery or burglary. Laws vary across the remaining 32 states with capital punishment, but both California — with the nation’s largest Death Row — and Texas — with the country’s busiest death chamber — have laws so broad that almost any killing could be prosecuted as a capital case.

The task force also recommended the creation of a panel overseen by the state attorney general that would have the final say on bringing death-penalty charges in Ohio. That recommendation would likely face strong opposition, too.

Earlier coverage of the Ohio Commission begins at the link.  More information is at the Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio's Death Penalty website.

Update on Connecticut Racial Bias Case

The Hartford Courant reports, "Death Penalty Bias Case Heats Up, Even After Trial Is Long Over," by Jon Lender.  Here's an extended excerpt from the beginning of the article:

Eight years and millions of taxpayer dollars after it began, the end is finally near in a habeas corpus lawsuit by five convicted killers who claim that Connecticut's death penalty is racially, ethnically and geographically biased. The trial in the case concluded six months ago, and a ruling is expected by fall.

The end phrase of a lawsuit is often a time of quiet before the decision — but this case is actually growing louder.

In recent days, David S. Golub — the lead attorney for the death-row inmates who are seeking to have their death sentences converted to life sentences without parole — fired a verbal salvo.

He told The Courant that he'd filed legal papers last month saying that the state's statistical expert witness, who has been paid more than $1 million so far, ended up agreeing with the inmates' claim that, in Golub's words, "there are statistically significant racial and other disparities in death penalty prosecutions in Connecticut."

"This is a stunning admission by the state's own expert witness that was never revealed until the time of trial," said Golub, of Stamford. Golub represents death row inmate Sedrick Cobb, convicted of capital felony, kidnapping, murder, sexual assault and robbery in a 1989 attack on Julia Ashe, 23, of Watertown.

However, the expert in question, Stephan Michelson of North Carolina, disputed Golub. He told The Courant that Golub's statement was inaccurate because it made too much of his agreement with narrow conclusions of the inmates' expert statistical witness, Stanford Law School professor John J. Donohue III, who also has been hired at taxpayer expense.

"What Golub says is so obliquely related to the case that one must know he has no evidence supporting the [inmates'] actual claims in the case," Michelson said. "I can't say what Golub hopes to achieve. My guess would be that he is trying to prepare the public to be angry at the judge, who will surely find that Golub has not proved his case."

Superior Court Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza is expected to issue a final ruling by fall. The office of Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane, which has represented the state and opposed the inmates' claims of bias, has until July 1 to file its final brief.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias trial begins at the link.  Connecticut repealed its death penalty last year, but left those currently on death row under sentence of death.

Texas Editorial Roundup

"Texas’ grim death penalty milestone," is the Dallas Morning News editorial.

Owing to its size and inclinations, Texas registers prodigious statistics, but none so bleak as what comes from the state’s pre-Civil War red-brick prison in Huntsville that houses the nation’s busiest execution chamber.

There, on Wednesday, Texas’ 500th execution since national reinstatement is set to be carried out. The life scheduled for termination belongs to Kimberly McCarthy, whose grisly murder of elderly neighbor Dorothy Booth of Lancaster brings the state to this grim milestone.

It’s one that no other state may ever touch. Virginia, second in terms of executions, is barely a fifth of the way there, and the pace of capital punishment has slowed nationwide, even in Texas.

Part of that has to do with a collective shudder at the realities of a fallible criminal-justice system. Part of it has to do with a growing list of states — now at 18 — that have abolished the death penalty. Part of it has to do with a willingness to pause and take an unflinching look at the system and why it singles out some killers to die and others to live.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial is, "It’s time to halt executions in Texas."

The figure 500 is sobering, particularly when it is applied to people and their deaths.

On Wednesday evening, barring intervention by a court or the governor, Texas will carry out its 500th death sentence since capital punishment was reinstated in 1974.

Between 1924 (when the state took charge of executions from its counties) and 1964, the start of a decade-long moratorium, the Lone Star State performed 361 killings by electrocution.

Texas has the bragging rights for its frequency of ultimate punishment, leading the nation even though other states have more inmates on Death Row.

These large numbers represent people, individuals with names who, although convicted of horrible crimes and deserving punishment, should not have their deaths determined by flawed human beings acting in the name of the state.

And:

Abolishing capital punishment would neither demean the memory of victims nor deny any of them justice. Instead, it would make our society as a whole more just, more morally consistent and certainly more humane.

Texas retired “Old Sparky,” its electric chair, in 1977.

It is time to permanently close our infamous death chamber.

Sunday’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial was the first in which the paper has called for abolition of the death penalty.

In past years, the Star-Telegram has called for a moratorium on executions and a number of other criminal justice reforms, especially related to capital punishment.  It has also increasingly expressed serious concerns about a variety of Texas criminal justice practices.

It now joins the Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News, and Houston Chronicle, which have previously endorsed abolition in editorials.

Bob Ray Sanders, an editorial board member, has long written of the evils and failings of capital punishment in his bylined column for the Star-Telegram.  Sanders, perhaps more than any other Texas columnist, has given us a human-scale view of the Texas criminal justice system at work.  It's just one reason why he is held in such high regard by his fellow journalists.

Earlier coverage from Texas begins at the link; more from AFP, in the next post.

Helen Prejean's Impact

Amy Goodman's latest syndicated column is, "The Catholic nun who changed the US debate on the death penalty forever.  Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking shook American attitudes on capital punishment. And 20 years on, it still inspires."  It's via the Guardian.

Thirty years ago, a Catholic nun working in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans was asked if she would be a penpal to a death row prisoner. Sister Helen Prejean agreed, forever changing her life, as well as the debate on capital punishment in the US.

Her experiences inspired her first book, "Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States," which has just been republished on its 20th anniversary. She was a penpal with Patrick Sonnier, a convicted murderer on death row in Louisiana's notorious Angola prison.

"Dead Man Walking: Extended Interview with Sister Helen Prejean on Decades of Death Penalty Activism," is the Democracy Now interview conducted by Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh.  There is video at the link.

Here's a brief excerpt from this must-watch, must-read interview:

AMY GOODMAN: It’s interesting that Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote the introduction to the new book, which has a new subtitle, Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate. And he writes, "As we held our national 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission' hearings and worked to rebuild our country, people around the world were making the same connections about the death penalty—how racist, unfair, and broken it is—and slowly a new global movement for the abolition of the death penalty began." So, you wrote this book 20 years ago. Eighteen states have now banned the death penalty. I think most people don’t realize that of the thousands of murders that take place, far less than 1 percent of those cases is a death penalty imposed. And as you point out—so, when people just say, "Well, of course, if you murder someone, you should be murdered," as you point out, you want to look at who actually gets murdered in that very small—who actually gets the death penalty in that small percentage of cases.

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: Yeah, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: So what about the fact that 18 states have banned the death penalty and where it’s going today?

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: Yeah. We started seeing in 2001 a trend away from the death penalty, in huge contrast to the 10 Southern states that practiced slavery, that do 80 percent of all the executions in this country, and we just have witnessed in Rick Scott, Florida governor, who said, "We’re going to put the death penalty on a fast track. It’s taking too long." And he has the power to do that as governor. And so, there are 13 people who have exhausted their appeals in the courts that he’s lining up on a fast track to be executed. And I just read that his—that he just got bumped up in terms of support of the people.

We have different cultures in this country. The Deep South states have always been the ones with the toughest penal reform. We are the highest incarcerator in the world, and Louisiana, my state, is the highest incarcerator of everybody. And we’re one of the death penalty states. All the Southern states are. And here’s another constitutional issue. Here’s another thing the court never looks at: the huge disparity of practice that 80 percent of all the worst of the worst people, who are on death row, happen to be in the 10 Southern states that practiced slavery. Whereas, when New York had it, when New Jersey had it, and the states that don’t have it—you know, they did less than 1 percent of all the executions. So the Northeast has been the first states to do away with it.

There is more coverage of Sister Helen's work at the link.

Oklahoma Executes

Oklahoma carried out its second execution of 2013, last night.

"James Lewis DeRosa, Okla. man, executed by lethal injection for couple's 2000 death, report says," is the AP report, via CBS News.

James Lewis DeRosa was killed by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, becoming the state's second inmate executed this year.

At a clemency hearing last month, DeRosa took responsibility for his role in the Oct. 2, 2000, stabbing deaths of Curtis and Gloria Plummer, for whom he had previously done some ranch work. He also apologized to their family.

"I can't express how truly sorry I am for the pain I've caused the Plummer family," DeRosa said. "I take full responsibility for their deaths. If not for me, they wouldn't have died that night."

The Oklahoma execution was the 16th of the year in an  American death penalty state.  To date there have been a total of 1,336 post-Furman executions since 1977.

Oklahoma has conducted 104 executions since 1990.  It trails Texas, with 499 executions, and Virginia (110)  in the number of post-Furman executions.  These three states account for 53% of American executions.

Related posts are in the execution category index.

An Update From Ohio

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports, "Task force urges state panel be created to evaluate death penalty prosecutions," by Robert Higgs.

A state task force is recommending that Ohio create a panel under the state attorney general that would review potential death penalty cases before prosecutors could take them to trial.

Under current Ohio law, the power to decide when to pursue the death penalty rests in the hands of individual county prosecutors.

But the recommendation by the Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio's Death Penalty would give the new panel authority to disapprove death penalty charges.

The recommendation is an attempt to address disparities in death penalty prosecutions in Ohio, said Ohio Public Defender Timothy Young, who chaired a subcommittee that drafted the recommendation.

And:

Once a prosecutor made a decision, the panel -- made up of staff from the attorney general’s office and former county prosecutors appointed by the governor -- would review that decision.

It would look at the circumstances of the case, giving particular consideration to the races of those charged and the victims, said Jo Ellen Cline, government relations counsel to the Ohio Supreme Court and the court’s liaison to the joint task force.

“It would be a significant change in how things operate now,” Cline said.

The task force’s recommendation has a long way to go before it could become reality. It likely will be late in the year before the task force finishes its work, and some recommendations, including this one, would require legislative action to change state law.

Given that, not all of the details on how the panel would work, or if a prosecutor would have some recourse if opposed to the panel’s decision, are not nailed down. That specificity would likely come from the General Assembly, Cline said.

Earlier coverage of the Ohio task force begins at the link.  More information is at the Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio's Death Penalty website.

Colorado Roundup - Polling, Holmes Case

"What poll means for death penalty," is the title of a Denver Post editorial.

Interestingly, 57 percent of Coloradans said they did not think the death penalty deters murders.

Another revealing statistic: 53 percent said they thought the death penalty was applied fairly in Colorado, despite a mountain of evidence that its use in death-penalty eligible cases is quite arbitrary.

How informed are Coloradans about the death penalty debate? Forty-four percent said they had heard or read "a little" about the debate while 26 percent said they had heard or read "nothing at all."

Only 30 percent said they had heard or read "a lot" on the subject.

Of those Coloradans who did support abolishing the death penalty, the top reason was listed as, "No one has the right to take a life/It's murder." The second most-cited reason was, "Fear of executing an innocent person/Irreversible."

Those seem like pretty good reasons for opposing the death penalty — and there are many more — although apparently they don't resonate with most Coloradans.

We hope the conversation continues and that the governor leads it, polling aside.

Also in today's Post, the news article, "James Holmes' attorneys suggest they might withdraw his insanity plea," by John Ingold.

Attorneys for Aurora movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes have suggested they might withdraw his insanity plea if his upcoming independent psychiatric evaluation doesn't go their way.

This month, Holmes formally pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, prompting the judge to order him to undergo a mental-health evaluation at a state hospital in Pueblo.

Earlier coverage of the Colorado public opinion polling, James Holmes case, and the Nathan Dunlap reprieve begins at the links.

Former Prosecutor Backs Dunlap Commutation

"CO's Death Penalty System Too Broken to Use: Commute Dunlap's Sentence," is Richard Bloch's essay at Huffington Post.  He's the former Arapahoe County Chief Deputy District Attorney.

In the twenty years I spent with the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office, I prosecuted dozens of homicides, including three death penalty cases. Based on my experiences, I believe that Colorado does not need and should not use capital punishment to maintain our public safety. I hope that Governor Hickenlooper commutes Nathan Dunlap's death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Having worked on many homicides, visited dozens of murder scenes, and, most importantly, spoken to many people who have committed violent actions against others, I understand from personal experience what so many studies show: that there is no evidence whatsoever that the death penalty deters crime and enhances public safety.

My work experience convinces me that the threat of a death sentence does not deter criminal activity. In my years as a prosecutor and in my subsequent private legal practice, I have observed that some of the most egregious crimes are committed due to mental illness, desperation, overwhelming emotions, and political extremism -- none of which are subject to rational cost/benefit calculations, like weighing potential criminal sentencing consequences.

And:

Our system is broken. Something is clearly wrong with our state when all the death sentences are coming out of one county. We are in a crisis when our state, which is 4.3 percent African-American, has a death row that is 100 percent African American. A broken system has produced flawed results.

One of these results is Nathan Dunlap's death sentence. That is why I join so many other individuals and groups speaking out to support clemency in this case. The crime he committed was horrific, and he should spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, to ensure public safety and severe punishment for his crimes. Yet we cannot ignore that the system that sentenced Mr. Dunlap to die is a system in crisis. Colorado can do better; Colorado is better than that.

Westword posts, "Nathan Dunlap clemency backers cite broad support as calls for death continue," by Michael Roberts.

The campaign to either save Nathan Dunlap from the death penalty or execute the man convicted of four brutal murders at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in 1993 has turned into something of a public-relations competition. As the Arapahoe District Attorney's Office continues to dole out statements from victims and associates who believe he deserves the ultimate punishment, Dunlap's advocates are working to humanize him even as they emphasize broad support for Governor John Hickenlooper to alter his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

You can view the clemency petition and other supporting documents in Nathan Dunlap's case at the link.

Earlier coverage of Nathan Dunlap's case begins at the link.

Colorado News

"Gov. Hickenlooper boxed in on Nathan Dunlap," is the latest from Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll.

We are used to impassioned rhetoric by those who oppose the death penalty. But George Brauchler, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District that includes Arapahoe County, and Matt Maillaro, his senior chief deputy who co-signed the letter to the governor, have no trouble mustering indignation of their own against those who would spare Nathan Dunlap, whose execution has been set for the week of Aug. 18.

Brauchler and Maillaro's 32-page rebuttal to Dunlap's plea for clemency is a tour de force of controlled but heated — and occasionally sarcastic — argument. And nowhere are they more effective than on racial bias.

I say that as someone who in February argued that the governor should commute Dunlap's sentence to life in prison without parole, which is what his attorneys officially requested this month. The death penalty in Colorado is rarely pursued and even more rarely achieved (exactly one execution since 1967), giving it a random, peculiar quality that mocks our commitment to equality before the law.

But racist is another matter.

And:

Hickenlooper could of course base his commutation on the the theory that "Mr. Dunlap was not cold or cruel," as his lawyers argue. "He was sick. He was a teenager suffering from bipolar disorder and psychosis, in the grip of his first full-blown manic episode" — and the jury never knew it. Brauchler and Maillaro pour scorn on that claim, too, and maybe the governor can determine which side's experts are more credible.

And if not? Then our broken death-penalty system — the one the governor intervened to save — will stagger into action and execute someone for only the second time in 46 years.

Earlier coverage of Nathan Dunlap's case begins at the link.

Denver Post Editorial Calls for Commutation in Dunlap Case

"Sympathy for Nathan Dunlap? No. Clemency? Yes.," is the Denver Post editorial.

Hickenlooper ought to grant the petition, but not because Dunlap is a miscast character caught in bad circumstances, no matter how hard his lawyers have worked hard to portray him in a sympathetic light.

He should spare Dunlap's life and relegate him to spend the rest of his days in prison because the death penalty is fundamentally wrong, and its application in Colorado is arbitrary.

Recently, two law professors at University of Denver studied the outcome of murder cases in Colorado. They examined 544 first-degree cases from 1999 to 2010 and found the death penalty was a punishment option in 92 percent of cases. However, prosecutors pursued the death penalty at trial in only 1 percent of cases.

And:

As recently as December, Hickenlooper expressed mixed feelings about the death penalty. "I wrestle with this, right now, on a pretty much daily basis," he said at the time.

We hope the governor concludes the arbitrary nature of the death penalty in Colorado is a strong enough argument to grant Dunlap clemency. The sporadic taking of life in the name of the state is not justice.

The Boulder Daily Camera publishes an OpEd, "Faith directs us to support clemency for Nathan Dunlap," written by Rabbi Joseph Black and the Rev. Jim Ryan.

For us, as men of God and leaders of our congregations of Colorado faithful, it is deeply troubling that our state may move forward with the execution of Nathan Dunlap. Our calling to serve God involves a responsibility to seek justice, and we must be especially mindful of our role in supporting the poor and the weak, while advocating for fairness for all. Despite his terrible crime and the suffering he caused, we pray that Mr. Dunlap will receive executive clemency and will serve his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

While our faith compels us to reject violence in all forms, we find the death penalty, an act of violence that is premeditated and carried out in our names, particularly abhorrent. We would be remiss in our spiritual commitment if we did not speak out about our belief that Mr. Dunlap's life should be spared.

And:

Our moral responsibility to our congregations and to all our fellow citizens is to strive to live in accordance with our own inner holiness. We work to make our society civilized, just, and merciful. We cannot condone or accept the execution of any person in our names. Such an execution would coarsen us and corrode our civic morality. As men of faith, we are commanded to speak out when we see injustice in our world. Because of this spiritual commitment, we respectfully ask Governor Hickenlooper to commute Nathan Dunlap's sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. We strongly believe this is the merciful, moral, and just action, which is in accordance with the teachings of our faiths.

KUSA-TV posts, "Family of Chuck E. Cheese killer Nathan Dunlap pleads for clemency," by Will Ripley.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper will be reviewing a stack of documents in the Nathan Dunlap case.

Dunlap killed four people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese on Dec. 14, 1993 and is set to be executed the week of Aug. 18.

Dunlap's petition for clemency includes never-before-seen interviews with his family.

Dunlap's defense team is trying to make case that years of psychological and sexual abuse led to his mental illness.

"Nathan Dunlap clemency appeal blasted by Arapahoe District Attorney," is by Karen Augé at the Denver Post.

In an impassioned, at times angry, rebuttal to Nathan Dunlap's petition for clemency, Arapahoe District Attorney George Brauchler calls on the governor to "take the courageous step" and reject the condemned killer's appeal.

The appeal, which asserted that Dunlap suffers from severe mental illness and is remorseful, offered no new evidence for saving Dunlap's life, Brauchler wrote in a 32-page response delivered Friday afternoon.

"He took the lives of four Colorado citizens, and justice requires he now pays with his own," Brauchler wrote.

The Boulder Daily Camera posts the AP report, "DA: Colorado governor shouldn't grant clemency to Nathan Dunlap."

The district attorney of the office that prosecuted a death-row inmate who killed four employees at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in 1993 is among those asking Gov. John Hickenlooper to take the "courageous step" of rejecting his clemency petition.

Nathan Dunlap's lawyers are seeking clemency while also fighting in court to try to spare him from execution for the Aurora slayings, which happened during a robbery. They say their client had undiagnosed bipolar disorder at the time.

Several letters to Hickenlooper that were released Friday say Dunlap's death sentence should be carried out. They were from Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler and Senior Chief Deputy District Attorney Matt Maillaro; the jury foreman in a separate Colorado death penalty case; and state Rep. Rhonda Fields.

Earlier coverage of Nathan Dunlap's case begins at the link.

Calls for Clemency in Colorado

The Boulder Daily Camera publishes an editorial, "Clemency for Nathan Dunlap."  It's written by Erika Stutzman for the Camera editorial board.

The Camera editorial board wants the governor to commute Dunlap's sentence to life in prison with no chance of parole.

We had hoped that Colorado would join a growing list of states that have repealed their death penalties. Dunlap still would be on death row if it had.

We have come to believe, however, that Dunlap is a good example of some of the very reasons we have pressed for Colorado to repeal the penalty. And for that reason, letting him die in prison -- but not through lethal injection -- is appropriate.

On Thursday, Maryland became the sixth state in just six years -- and the 18th state in the country -- to abolish the death penalty. These states have concluded that the death penalty is both capricious and racially biased.

"Defense: Colo man convicted of killing 4 in 1993 had bipolar disorder, should not be executed," is the AP report, via the Republic.

Lawyers for a man convicted of the 1993 ambush slayings of four people say he had undiagnosed bipolar disorder at the time and shouldn't be executed.

Nathan Dunlap's attorneys formally asked Gov. John Hickenlooper for clemency on Monday.

And:

Hickenlooper hasn't said how he would respond to a request for clemency. He met Friday and Saturday with victims' family members and others to hear their views.

Advocates for Nathan Dunlap issued the news release, "Former Judges and Prosecutors, Faith Leaders, the NAACP, CO Latino Forum, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Academics and Others Call on Governor Hickenlooper to Commute Nathan Dunlap’s Death Sentence to Life In Prison Without the Possibility of Parole."  Here's the text:

Citing racial bias, geographic concentration, and disproportionate usage in Colorado’s application of capital punishment, more than 20 former judges and prosecutors, faith leaders representing hundreds of Colorado congregations, the NAACP of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, the Colorado Latino Forum, the nation’s largest mental health advocacy organization, 75 academics from 6 Colorado universities, international voices and many others called today on Governor John Hickenlooper to commute Nathan Dunlap’s death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
 
The letters supporting clemency from the hundreds of distinguished Coloradoans accompanied a clemency petition filed today by Mr. Dunlap’s attorneys with the Governor’s office. A number of prominent individuals have signed letters in support of clemency, including former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Jean Dubofsky, former Arapahoe County Deputy District Attorney Richard Bloch, Archbishop of Denver, Samuel J. Aquila, Rabbi Joseph Black of Temple Emanuel, Pastor Patrick L. Demmer of the Ministerial Alliance of Denver, Reverend Dr. Jim Ryan of the Colorado Council of Churches, which represents over 850 member congregations, and many others have reached out to the Governor to express support for clemency, including renowned human rights leader and recipient of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
 
“We… urge you to grant clemency because the death penalty in Colorado is deeply flawed,” states a letter to Governor Hickenlooper, signed by former judges. “These facts depict a system that acts in an arbitrary fashion, based on factors such as race and geography…..Assuming that the death penalty may sometimes be appropriate, there is no principled reason for it to be applied in the circumstances of this case.”
 
The clemency petition also includes affidavits by several of the jurors from Mr. Dunlap’s trial who now say that if they had all the information at trial, they may not have voted for death.
 
In December 1993, Mr. Dunlap committed a horrific crime, killing four people and seriously injuring another. As the letters in support of clemency make clear, Mr. Dunlap should serve life in prison without the possibility of parole, and should never experience freedom again. The widespread support for clemency in his case reflects a consensus that Colorado’s death penalty system is broken.
 
Many of the supporters for clemency express concern in their letters that the death penalty in Colorado is not used proportionally, and it is concentrated geographically and by the profile of the prisoner, with racial bias and a bias towards younger offenders. Mr. Dunlap’s case exemplifies this unjust system. In a state that is only 4.3% African American, Colorado’s death row is 100% African American. Of the 64 counties in the state of Colorado, only one county, Arapahoe, is responsible for all the current death sentences in the state. All three men on Colorado’s death row committed their crimes when they were under the age of 21. A recent study of every murder conviction in Colorado from 1999-2010 found that while the death penalty was an option in 92% of those cases, prosecutors chose to pursue the sentence through the sentencing phase in less than 1% of cases.
 
“It appears that race, geography and youth largely determines who gets the death penalty in Colorado,” states a letter from the Colorado-Montana-Wyoming State Conference of the NAACP. “This is wrong and it must end….The death penalty in America has long been administered in a racially biased manner. Since its inception, people of color have been disproportionately condemned to death…”
 
“The very emblematic symbol of justice is a lady blindfolded, holding scales of justice in her hands, which is designed to suggest that justice sees neither your race, creed, color, nor your social standing, but that in Colorado is obviously not true, unless we are to believe that only African-Americans are worthy of the death penalty,” wrote Pastor Patrick L. Demmer, former President of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance and Senior Pastor of the Graham Memorial Community Church of God in Christ.
 
Colorado has executed only one person in the last 45 years. If Mr. Dunlap is executed during the week of August 18 - 24, 2013, he will be the first person put to death in Colorado since 1997. Supporters for clemency cite serious concerns over the proportionality of capital punishment in Colorado.
 
“The arbitrary application of Colorado’s death penalty makes Mr. Dunlap’s sentence unacceptable and antithetical to the rule of law,” state 75 Colorado university professors in their letter in support of clemency.
 
The clemency petition provides details of Mr. Dunlap’s history of mental illness, which was also noted as a cause of significant concern by many groups who support clemency, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation’s largest organization representing people with mental illness and their families.
 
Mr. Dunlap suffers from bipolar disorder, and his family has an extensive history of mental illness going back five generations, including his mother who also suffers from bipolar disorder. Since the Colorado Department of Corrections finally began treating Mr. Dunlap’s mental illness in 2006, his mental health has been stable and his behavior exemplary.
 
“…failure to present any evidence of Mr. Dunlap's serious mental illness or the role of that illness in his behavior clearly prevented the jury from fairly and accurately assessing his culpability. Indeed, the Colorado death penalty statute expressly provides that a defendant's mental state may be mitigating, even if his mental illness does not rise to level of legal insanity,” state former prosecutors from Colorado and around the country.
 
At trial, a unanimous decision by the jury was required to impose the death sentence. No information was presented about Mr. Dunlap’s mental health issues, despite the fact that he was likely experiencing a manic episode at the time of the crime. Mr. Dunlap was 19 years old at the time.
 
Notably, three jurors now say that if they had known about Mr. Dunlap’s mental illness, it may have affected their decisions. Under Colorado law, if only one of them had not voted for death, Mr. Dunlap would not face execution today.
 
“Executions harm society by mirroring and reinforcing existing injustice. The death penalty distracts us from our work towards a just society. It deforms our response to violence in the individual, familial, institutional, and systemic levels. It perpetuates cycles of violence,’” states Lutheran Bishop James Gonia, one of 65 Bishops in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with over 4 million members. “Please be merciful and allow Nathan Dunlap to live out his natural life.” 
 
A letter signed by 18 Rabbis adds, “As members of a religious minority whose history is replete with injustice under the law, we are deeply concerned about how the death penalty is applied in Colorado…. As Colorado and other states continue to wrestle with our nation’s legacy of racial injustice, our citizens must be assured that desire for justice and our faith are never at odds.”
 
In the words of Archbishop of Denver, Samuel J. Aquila, “I pray that we will be a just society…rather than resorting to the violence of execution.”
 
Governor Hickenlooper has the power to stop Mr. Dunlap’s execution and commute his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Earlier coverage of Nathan Dunlap's case begins at the link.

Baltimore Sun: The Case Against Capital Punishment

That's the title of the Baltimore Sun editorial.  It has the sub-head: "The death penalty is arbitrary, prone to error, hard on the families of murder victims and ultimately immoral."

The Maryland Senate's vote today to repeal the death penalty was a milestone in an effort to remove from the law a sentence that puts vengeance above justice, fails to deter crime and provides for the families of victims not the closure they crave but instead years of frustration and heartache. With the 27-20 vote — a solid majority that included two Republicans and 25 Democrats — repeal supporters are already looking ahead to the possibility that Maryland could provide momentum for ending capital punishment in other states, and ultimately help convince the Supreme Court that the death penalty is cruel and unusual.

And:

Proponents of capital punishment contend that it affords true justice for the families of murder victims. But as a practical matter, it offers years of frustration and heartache. Death is the one punishment that cannot be taken back, so the criminal justice system has no choice but to afford substantial opportunities for post-conviction review. The decades of delay in the cases of some Maryland death row inmates are unusual, but the average time from sentencing to execution nationally is nearly 15 years, according to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Finally, and most profoundly, is the moral question. Is it right for the state to punish killing by killing? Capital punishment proponents say yes, that some people commit crimes of such profound evil that they forfeit their right to live in our society. But that can be accomplished with a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Capital punishment serves not to render judgment on a killer's humanity but to diminish ours. It should be abolished.

Here are links to addtional news coverage of yesterday's vote by the Maryland Senate to repeal the state's death penalty.

Today's Wall Street Journal reports. "Maryland Moves to End Executions." It's by Ashby Jones.  There is an infographic at the link.

Maryland's Senate voted on Wednesday to repeal the death penalty, moving the state closer to becoming the sixth since 2007 to abolish capital punishment.

The vote in Maryland came amid deepening uncertainty over the death penalty, which was reinstated in many states after it was upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976.

While Maryland and 32 other states retain the power to sentence inmates to death, capital punishment faces a host of challenges, from the growing number of exonerations of convicts—often because of new DNA evidence—to the cost of prosecuting capital defendants to shortages of drugs used in lethal injections.

Since 2007, the death penalty has been abolished in five states: Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York.

"Maryland takes step to end capital punishment," is the Los Angeles Times report by Michael Muskal.

"Senate votes 27-20 to abolish death penalty," is by Steve Lash of the Daily Record.  There is a roll call listing of the final Senate vote at the link.

AFP posts, "Maryland moves to abolish death penalty," written by Romain Jeanticou in Washington, DC.

Earlier coverage of the historic Maryland Senate vote begins at the link.

An Update From Colorado

Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll writes, "Let Hick grant clemency."  Here's an extended excerpt:

Imagine this unlikely scenario: Our supremely secular Colorado governor receives unsolicited moral advice from a Catholic prelate — and takes it seriously.

But it happened, according to John Hickenlooper's recent account on Colorado Public Radio. When Archbishop Charles Chaput left town 18 months ago for Philadelphia, he invited the governor to breakfast, where they spent a "significant amount of time" talking about the death penalty.

When Hickenlooper told Chaput he'd always been "sort of an eye for an eye person," Chaput retorted that "there's no language like that anywhere in the New Testament," adding that "to a large extent, Catholic theology is based upon forgiveness, and that only God has a right to make that decision."

"Just keep looking inside yourself," was Chaput's parting advice. "Just keep thinking about it, keep talking about it, and [clarity on the issue] will come to you."

Clarity from the governor may be needed sooner rather than later now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Nathan Dunlap, who sits on death row for the 1993 murder of four at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese. And while you can never count out a good defense team, Dunlap's time is running out. Arapahoe County prosecutors last week said they'd consult with the attorney general and then file a motion asking the district court to "lift the current stay of execution, issue a warrant and set a week for the execution."

But Hickenlooper can stop that execution and, when the time comes, should.

He should commute Dunlap's sentence to life in prison without parole even if he hasn't fully arrived at Chaput's view of the death penalty. It should be enough for the governor that Dunlap's execution would be singularly absurd, from almost any standpoint you care to examine.

Colorado may not officially have abolished the death penalty — yet — but it may as well have.

Clarity from the governor may be needed sooner rather than later now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of Nathan Dunlap, who sits on death row for the 1993 murder of four at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese. And while you can never count out a good defense team, Dunlap's time is running out. Arapahoe County prosecutors last week said they'd consult with the attorney general and then file a motion asking the district court to "lift the current stay of execution, issue a warrant and set a week for the execution."

But Hickenlooper can stop that execution and, when the time comes, should.

He should commute Dunlap's sentence to life in prison without parole even if he hasn't fully arrived at Chaput's view of the death penalty. It should be enough for the governor that Dunlap's execution would be singularly absurd, from almost any standpoint you care to examine.

Colorado may not officially have abolished the death penalty — yet — but it may as well have.

"Colorado Death Penalty Called Unconstitutional By Attorneys, Scholars," is by Scot Kersgaard for the Colorado Independent.  It's via Huffington Post.

Colorado’s death penalty is not only massively expensive, critics say it is also unconstitutional because it is so randomly sought.

A study released last year by DU Law Professors Justin Marceau and Sam Kamin showed that from 1999 to 2010, 92 percent of 544 Colorado murders had at least one of the aggravating factors that need to be present for a defendant to be eligible for death, yet the death penalty was sought in only five of those cases — less than 1 percent.

The study was commissioned by Edward Montour’s legal defense team, and thus paid for by the state. Montour, already serving life without parole, is fighting to stay off of death row for a murder committed in prison.

One of his attorneys, David Lane, argues that while the Supreme Court has instructed states to narrow the field of who qualifies for the death penalty, Colorado has done the opposite, creating so many aggravating factors that death could be sought in just about every murder committed in Colorado. With 92 percent of Colorado murder cases being eligible for the death penalty, but with death being sought so rarely in the state, Lane says, “The only check is prosecutorial discretion.”

He notes that the only Colorado death filings recently have come from the 18th Judicial District of Douglas and Arapahoe counties where he says prosecutors “are in love with the death penalty.” With only one judicial district ever seeking the death penalty, Lane says the death penalty is pursued randomly in Colorado, thus making it unconstitutional.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.

Ohio Task Force Continues Work Today

"Task Force On Capital Punishment To Meet Thursday," is the AP report, via WOUB-FM.

A state Supreme Court task force analyzing the effectiveness of Ohio's capital punishment law plans another meeting Thursday as part of its yearlong review.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor has convened the task force while making clear it won't debate whether the state should have the death penalty.

The committee of prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and death penalty experts is looking at a variety of issues, from how the law affects minorities to the role of clemency.

The committee also is studying whether death sentences are proportional, meaning that any one death sentence is similar to others that have also been handed down.

Earlier coverage of the Ohio Task Force begins at the link.  The Joint Task Force to Review the Administration of Ohio's Death Penalty website has additional information and future meeting dates.

Prosecutors on Capital Punishment

Prosecutors wield enormous power in charging decisions; some prosecutors are more aggressive in seeking a death sentence than others.  This exercise in prosecutorial discretion leads to a geographic disparity between jurisdictions in the application of capital punishment.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports, "Death penalty policy changes for Jefferson County," by Jason Riley.  Here's the beginning:

For more than 15 years, the policy in the Jefferson County prosecutor’s office was fairly simple: Seek the death penalty in every murder case that qualified for it, unless there was a compelling reason not to.

Now, that policy — which defense attorneys argued was often a waste of time and money — is changing.

Newly elected Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine said he is implementing a more “intense selection” process and additional criteria for choosing capital cases — including the likelihood of jurors recommending the death sentence, given the evidence in the case.

Wine said he also may try something done in federal court in which prosecutors meet first with defense attorneys who want to present evidence and mitigating factors as to why they shouldn’t seek the death penalty.

“I feel like I’m given a certain amount of discretion, and I plan to exercise that discretion,” Wine said in an interview.

Attorneys who for years have prepared defenses for death-penalty cases only to see the charges reduced before trial welcome the shift.

“You ought to make sure the guy deserves it and you think there is a reasonable chance the jury would actually do it,” said public defender Mike Lemke, noting that it has been years since a Jefferson Circuit Court jury has handed down the sentence.

"Prosecutor: Death penalty system unfair to victims," is the AP report, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Landis Shippert, of Platte City, thinks O'Dell should die for his crimes, but he said the prospect of spending the next several years in courtrooms listening to graphic details of his daughter's brutal slaying was too much for his family to bear.

"I'm a very faithful person and the Bible tells us we have to forgive," Shippert said. "One day I wanted to hate him, but I just can't. His family has lost a member, too."

Platte County prosecutor Eric Zahnd said he accepted O'Dell's offer to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence to spare the Shippert family of the continued nightmare of a capital murder trial. He said the state's death penalty process "puts victims' families in a tragic dilemma."

Zahnd, president of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said the organization is looking for ways to streamline the system and cut out some of the appeals — especially in cases like O'Dell's in which the defendant confessed and was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt.

He said a bill filed by state Sen. Joe Keaveny, a St. Louis Democrat, to address costs of death penalty cases could open the door for a broader discussion of the state's capital punishment system.

Keaveny, a death penalty opponent, agreed that if his bill is approved, the results of an audit could lead to further discourse.

"If it's as expensive as I think it is, I would hope it sparks a much broader debate on the viability of the death penalty," Keaveny said. "We need to take some of the emotion out of criminal prosecutions, and in my mind, the death penalty is strictly driven by emotion.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and prosecution index.

Maryland and the Death Penalty

That's the title of an editorial published in the New York Times on Saturday.

Maryland’s governor, Martin O’Malley, chose Jan. 15, the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., to announce his determination to repeal the state’s law allowing capital punishment. “Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence,” he said, quoting Dr. King.

The death penalty does not deter murders, the governor said, since states with the penalty have had higher murder rates than states without it. And prosecuting a capital case in Maryland costs three times as much as pursuing a homicide conviction that carries a sentence of life without parole. In short, the penalty has been a huge waste of taxpayer money on a policy that manifestly does not work. Significantly, he said, the state has gathered sobering proof that its use of the death penalty has been so unfair — so arbitrary and capricious — as to be unjust and immoral.

The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment reported in 2008 that the “administration of the death penalty clearly shows racial bias” and that the chances of a state prosecutor’s “seeking and imposing a death sentence differs alarmingly across jurisdictions in Maryland, even when the cases are similar.”

In addition, the reversal rate in Maryland death penalty cases has been stunningly high; it was 80 percent for the years 1995 to 2007, the commission reported. Prosecutors have withheld potentially exculpatory evidence. Judges have made decisions that were unfair to defendants. The police have forced involuntary confessions.

And:

As Governor O’Malley said: “We know what does not work. And we know that the way forward is always found through greater respect for the human dignity of all.”

The Baltimore Sun reports, "Death penalty repeal gains 4 co-sponsors over 2012," by Michael Dresser.

The Maryland Senate moved a little closer to a majority willing to vote for full repeal of the death penalty Friday as 21 senators -- four more than last year -- agreed to co-sponsor the legislation in that chamber.

This year the bill also has the full-fledged support of Gov. Martin O'Malley, improving its chances of prevailing and moving over to the House of Delegates.

Twenty-four votes are needed to pass a bill in the Senate. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has said he believes there is a majority in favor of repeal in his chamber and that he can round up the 29 votes to stop a filibuster. Though he opposes repeal, Miller has said he will bring the bill to the floor this year if the votes are there.

Earlier coverage from Maryland begins at the link.

More Calls for Review of Florida's Death Penalty

"Florida's death penalty needs fresh look," is the Tampa Bay Tribune editorial.

Five states have repealed the death penalty in the last five years, with Connecticut being the latest to do so in 2012. But as other states have become disenchanted with the ultimate punishment in light of so many wrongful convictions, Florida has moved in the opposite direction. Last year was the second straight that this state ranked first in the nation in new death sentences. There is no political will to follow the enlightened path of abolition, but Florida should analyze why it's such an outlier. One likely reason is that the state doesn't require a unanimous jury recommendation for a death sentence, and that should be corrected.

Florida sentenced 22 people to death last year. Compare that to the more populous states of California, which sentenced 14 inmates, and Texas, the state with the highest number of executions, which put only nine new inmates on death row last year, according to a report by the Death Penalty Information Center. The count raises Florida's death row to 408 inmates. But even as the state adds to death row, it is finding problems with the legal process that led to those convictions and sentences. Florida also leads the nation in the number of inmates who have had their death sentences reversed. Out of 142 such cases, Florida accounts for 24 exonerations, acquittals or charges subsequently dropped, according to the center. Some of these were people shown to be innocent of the crime. Frank Lee Smith, for instance, was exonerated posthumously. The real perpetrator was identified after Smith died from cancer after he spent the last 14 years of his life on death row.

For years, Raoul Cantero has been urging the state Legislature to require a unanimous jury recommendation for death sentences. Cantero, a former Florida Supreme Court justice who was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, saw how haphazardly the death penalty is applied and how that can lead to potentially fatal errors.

Today's Hernando Today publishes the column, "Florida needs to debate the death penalty," written by Rhonda Swan.

It defies logic that taking life honors life.

For the second year in a row, Florida has sent more convicted killers to death row than any other state.

And acting Palm Beach County State Attorney Peter Antonacci would like to send more. His office is now seeking the death penalty for all first-degree murder cases.

There were 22 new death penalty cases this year in Palm Beach County.

"You have a dead human being," Antonacci told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He said that by not seeking the death penalty, "we have cheapened the value of human life."

There are many ways we cheapen the value of human life. Sexism, racism, ageism, discrimination against gays, the disabled, atheists and others with different or no religious views are but a few examples.

A political and economic system that allows millions to go without food, shelter and health care is another.

"Legislator wants to abolish capital punishment," is by Bill Cotterell for Florida Current.

An attorney-law professor who opposes capital punishment for pragmatic fiscal reasons, as well as legal and moral grounds,  reintroduced her bill Friday to abolish the death penalty in Florida.

Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, said she's not just making a symbolic gesture.

"The more people we can get educated about the death penalty, I think they will realize that opposition is mostly political posturing, rather than good policy," she told The Florida Current. "I actually believe we can show people that it's not a good way to spend public money."

Rehwinkel Vasilinda, a Tallahassee Community College law instructor starting her third legislative term, introduces the bill every year without so much as a committee hearing. Just how tough a tactical battle she's facing was illustrated in 2011, she said, when she offered her bill on the House floor as an amendment to another criminal-justice proposal.

WFOR-TV posts, "Florida Democrat Files Bill To Kill State’s Death Penalty."

It’s illegal in 17 states, and a new bill by a House Democrat would make it illegal in Florida.

A measure (HB 4005) to end the death penalty in Florida was filed Friday by Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, the News Service of Florida reports.

Rehwinkel Vasilinda said in a statement that the death penalty is not cost-effective and doesn’t deter crime.

“When you analyze the numbers, state-sponsored execution is not the correct answer,” said Rehwinkel Vasilinda, who said the state spends more than $50 million a year on death penalty cases.

Rep. Vasilinda's news release announcing the legislation is available in Adobe .pdf format.

Florda's Capitol News Service posts, "Unanimous Death Sentences." 

Tampa cop killer Humberto Delgado arrived on death row last year after his jury recommended he be put to death by an 8 to 4 vote. In December, William Davis’ jury split 7-5 even though he had asked them for death. Neither man would have received death in any of the other 32 states that have the death penalty.

That’s because thirty-one other states require all members of the jury to vote for death. The 32nd, Alabama,  requires at least 10 of the 12 jurors to say someone should die. Sheila Hopkins of the Florida Catholic Conference, says it is time for Florida to join the rest of the nation. “You know I think people should be very concerned and disturbed that potentially people who can be innocent would be given a death sentence”, says Hopkins.

Earlier coverage from Florida begins at the link.

Palm Beach Post Editorial

Today's Palm Beach Post publishes the editorial, "Decision to seek death penalty deserves more scrutiny."  It's written by Andrew Marra for the Post editorial board.

When Carey Haughwout, Palm Beach County’s longtime public defender, calls a courtroom policy “crazy,” that’s a pretty good sign it deserves scrutiny. When her target involves something as grave as the death penalty, that’s a clue it’s a matter of serious concern.

And “crazy” is precisely the word Ms. Haughwout used to describe a new policy at the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office that has prosecutors seeking the death penalty at the start of every first-degree murder case they prosecute — including some cases in which the accused clearly seems to suffer from mental illness.

As the Post’s Jane Musgrave reported, under this policy the number of death-penalty cases the office is prosecuting has doubled, from 12 in 2009 to 24 in 2012. And Ms. Haughwout and other defense attorneys say it makes prosecuting cases more expensive and leads to a host of complications for suspects, the victims’ families and the lawyers involved.

It didn’t always work this way. Under former State Attorney Barry Krischer, a committee of senior prosecutors reviewed first-degree murder cases to decide if the evidence and circumstances warranted pursuing the death penalty. The decision can be complex, with attorneys weighing a host of aggravating and mitigating circumstances such as the suspect’s prior criminal record and the extent to which a murder appeared premeditated.

Under interim State Attorney Peter Antonacci, who officially steps down this month when newly elected State Attorney Dave Aronberg takes over, this committee system has been discarded. Mr. Antonacci says that, as the office’s ultimate decision-maker, it ought to be left to him alone to decide when his office pursues the death penalty. And he has decided that, at least at the outset, the best tack is to seek the death penalty in all first-degree murder cases.

And:

Incoming State Attorney Dave Aronberg didn’t comment for the article but has said he intends to reimplement a committee system to make death penalty decisions. Doing so would be the best way to unwind what appears to have become a costly and antagonistic tactic.

Earlier coverage from Palm Beach County is in this Florida Roundup.

Florida Roundup

"Death Penalty Question Revisited," is the December 23 report from AP filed by Bill Kaczor.  It's via the Lakeland Ledger.

The Florida Supreme Court will be asked to take another look at how judges should determine whether a death row inmate is mentally disabled.

The issue divided the high court last week in a 4-2 opinion upholding Freddie Lee Hall's death sentence for murdering Karol Hurst, a 21-year-old pregnant woman who was abducted while leaving a Leesburg grocery store in 1978. A co-defendant is serving a life sentence.

Defense lawyer Eric Pinkard, who works for a state office that represents death row inmates, said Friday that he will ask for a rehearing and, if that fails, may take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The federal high court has prohibited the execution of mentally disabled inmates as unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment, but it has allowed states to determine what constitutes mental disability.

The majority of Florida justices ruled Thursday in Hall's case that they are bound by precedent set in earlier decisions prohibiting anyone with an IQ of 70 or higher from being declared mentally disabled, regardless of other evidence to the contrary.

The Palm Beach Post reported, "Lawyers question necessity, cost of local state attorney’s avid pursuit of the death penalty in murder cases," on December 26.  It's by Jane Musgrave.

With his arm wrapped tightly around his wife, Naomi, Gerard Gonsalves seemed to be protecting her from the looming possibility that the loss of one son could cost them the other.

At a recent court hearing, the West Palm Beach couple looked on as psychologists and psychiatrists told a judge what they already knew: Their 24-year-old son, Brandin, suffers from a panoply of mental ills.

Since he was diagnosed at age 13, they tried to get him help to deal with his demons. The search ended in July when Brandin stabbed his 25-year-old brother 69 times in a fatal attack he has said was ordered by God.

Still reeling from the loss, the couple is now confronted with another: The state wants to kill their youngest son for killing their firstborn.

The case underscores the problems with a system State Attorney Peter Antonacci instituted when he was appointed in March, some defense attorneys say. Now, instead of asking a committee of top prosecutors to review every case to determine which accused killer should die for his or her crime, the office automatically seeks the death penalty in all first-degree murder cases.

“It’s crazy,” said Public Defender Carey Haughwout, whose office defends the indigent and represents about half of those charged with murder. “There’s no review done before they file a notice to seek the death penalty. My concern is that it’s handled as a matter of course.”

Under the policy, the number of death penalty cases has doubled from 12 in 2009 to 24 this year. That means costs — both financial and human — have increased as well.

Haughwout and other defense attorneys say they hope the policy changes when State Attorney-elect Dave Aronberg takes office in January. Aronberg declined to discuss how he would decide which accused murderer deserves the death penalty. But on the campaign trail he promised to reinstitute the committee system that was used by his mentor, former longtime State Attorney Barry Krischer, who is helping him prepare to take office.

Three news articles focus on the 2012 DPIC report and Florida death sentences.  The South Florida Sun Sentinel published, "Florida leads nation in sending killers to Death Row," by Rafael Olmeda.  It's also available via Huffington Post.

Florida may be fourth in the nation when it comes to population, but we're still No. 1 when it comes to sending convicted killers to death row, according to a report from a national nonprofit group that studies the death penalty in America.

The Sunshine State sentenced 21 inmates to death in 2012 — more than California, more than Pennsylvania, and even more than Texas, which continues to lead in the number of inmates actually executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

It's the second straight year in which Florida has held the top spot among the states that have a death penalty, but it still represents a big spike over last year, when we sent 13 people to death row. California came in second both years, having sent 10 inmates to death row in 2011 and 14 this year.

"Florida led the nation in death sentences in 2012, report says," by Jeff Weiner for the Orlando Sentinel.

A report by a national nonprofit group that studies the death penalty found that Florida remains among the most active states in using it and put more defendants on death row in 2012 than any other state.

The Death Penalty Information Center's report reveals that only nine states executed a prisoner this year, with Florida putting three to death. Texas, with 15, executed the most defendants, the report states.

However, the Sunshine State far exceeded other states in new death sentences: 21 defendants were sentenced to die in Florida through mid-December, the research says.

Also, "Report: Florida leads nation in new death penalty cases," is by Elaine Silvestrini for the Tampa Tribune.

As capital punishment declines in use and support nationwide, Florida leads the country in the number of death sentences handed down this year, according to a report by a group that advocates against the death penalty.

Florida judges sentenced 21 killers to death in 2012, followed by California with death sentences for 14 murderers, Texas with 9 and Pennsylvania with seven, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The four states accounted for 65 percent of the death sentences handed out in the United States.

Nationally, the number of death sentences issued was the second lowest since capital punishment was reinstated nationwide in 1976.

In Florida, Duval County sent the most inmates to death row this year, at four, according to information from the state Department of Corrections. Hillsborough and Pinellas counties each sent one person to death row this year.

Earlier coverage from Florida includes the year's final execution and questions of an inmate's competency to be executed.  Earlier coverage of the 2012 DPIC report is also available.

A Roundup of Repeal News Coverage From Colorado

It appears likely that Colorado state legislators will be taking up repeal legislation in their session this year.

"Death penalty: Representative Claire Levy says she is confident a repeal could pass," is Sam Levin's post for Westword.  Here's the beginning:

Before Representative Claire Levy proposes legislation to repeal the death penalty in Colorado, she wants to be sure that it can pass.

And after more discussions with her fellow lawmakers on the topic, she says it seems like the momentum is right to get rid of the death penalty -- even if one of her Democratic colleagues is adamantly opposed to the move.

"I can't say with certainty...but I'm getting more confident," Levy says. "Those of us who are sponsoring it want to be sure we are going to be able to pass it before we introduce it. We are getting in confident in that."

At a pre-legislative forum in December, reporters asked the leaders of the Colorado General Assembly whether it was likely that a proposal to repeal the death penalty would be considered this year. At the time, Democrats said it was a possibility and John Morse, the new president of the Senate, revealed that he would likely support a repeal, which he has opposed in the past.

And though the new legislative session hasn't yet begun, the possibility of a death penalty repeal has since gotten more attention, most recently with reports that Levy, a Democrat who represents Boulder, is exploring the potential for a bill.

Representative Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat, told us last week that she has been and will remain strongly opposed to any efforts to get rid of the death penalty, calling the proposal "an insult to crime victims." For Fields, it is very personal: Two of the three inmates on death row in Colorado were responsible for the death of her son in 2005.

Today's Boulder Daily Camera endorses repeal in its editorial on the coming legislative session, "Colorado, 2013: Challenges and opportunities await." 

Some legislators have been talking about revisiting a bill to abolish the death penalty in Colorado, and such early talk has gotten some high-profile support including from Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett.

It's more expensive for the state to kill a murderer than to keep him in jail for life. The last time such a move was considered, the money saved from death penalty cases was going to be applied to reviewing cold cases. We agree with the death penalty opponents who argue that the punishment is unevenly applied and politicized; it wastes money and time; and that it doesn't serve as a deterrent to the types of crimes that qualify for it.

Last year, Connecticut became the 17th state to eliminate the death penalty, the fifth state to do so in just five years. Colorado should join that list.

The December 27 issue of the Denver Post also endorsed repeal in the editorial, "Why Colorado should end the death penalty."

Boulder state Rep. Claire Levy is reportedly testing the waters for a possible bill to end the death penalty in Colorado. We hope she takes the plunge. You can't pass legislation unless you try, and the stars may finally be aligned for success on this difficult issue.

As The Denver Post's Jessica Fender pointed out in an article Wednesday, several factors could work in favor of death-penalty opponents. Not only do Democrats control both the House and Senate, but Gov. John Hickenlooper has indicated he might be open to the idea. Although Hickenlooper did not support abolishing the death penalty when he ran for office in 2010, he now says that "capital punishment is another one of those things where I haven't come to rest on a position."

From our perspective, it would be better if the governor favored banning capital punishment outright, but maybe that's not far in the wings. In the meantime, if he's looking for reasons to embrace abolition, we'd be happy to help out.

Start with the fact that capital punishment is nearly extinct in Colorado already as a practical matter, with only one execution occurring in the past 45 years. Admittedly, part of the reason for this long dry spell has to do with court decisions at various times that pushed some inmates off death row. However, the bigger reason is that prosecutors don't often seek the death penalty and juries are reluctant to embrace it when they do.

The Denver Post news article referenced in the editorial is, "Death penalty foes may try to repeal Colorado's ultimate punishment," by Jessica Fender.  It's an excellent primer on the Colorado landscape.

Foes of capital punishment for months have quietly sought advice and support for a campaign to end Colorado's death penalty even as a series of horrific, high-profile murders have unfolded at home and nationwide.

Their adversaries — and some traditional allies — question the timing, saying fresh memories of mass shootings in Aurora and elsewhere, the slaying of 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway and other grisly crimes could turn lawmakers against potential legislation in 2013.

But those incidents could also strengthen efforts to end capital punishment, said state Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, who pointed out that the death penalty is either unlikely or impossible in many of the state's most recent cases.

"These are horrific crimes, but the death penalty will probably not be imposed. If anything, it reinforces the notion that (the death penalty) is outmoded," Levy said. "Why do we have this law on the books if it doesn't prevent these types of crimes?"

Three years after a prior attempt to end the death penalty failed, the political playing field looks more favorable, and advocates like Levy have added research critical of how the death penalty is applied to their arsenal.

On December 30, the Post reported, "Rep. Fields wants Colorado voters to decide death penalty question," also written by Fender.

A lawmaker who saw her son's killers sentenced to die says Colorado voters — and not 100 lawmakers under the state Capitol's golden dome — should decide whether to abolish the death penalty.

As state Rep. Rhonda Fields' Democratic colleagues attempt to gather support for ending capital punishment through legislation, she has started work on a bill that would put the death-penalty question on the 2014 ballot, she said.

Her counterproposal sets the stage for a political showdown on a traditionally touchy topic at the Capitol, where some key officials' stances against abolishing the death penalty have recently softened.

"Colorado lawmakers should not slam the door on justice for those who commit heinous crimes," Fields said. "I believe that society must be protected, and the voters should decide the fate of capital punishment."Colorado has executed one man since the death penalty was reinstated in Colorado in 1975. Three men currently wait on death row.

"Boulder DA in favor of axing death penalty," is written by Mitchell Byars for the Boulder Daily Camera.

As Colorado lawmakers consider repealing the death penalty, Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett said he would most likely be in favor of a bill doing away with capital punishment, a stance that is not surprising given Boulder's history -- or lack thereof -- with the practice.

Three years after a previous attempt to end the death penalty failed, some legislators -- including Boulder's Rep. Claire Levy -- have said they are once again looking into doing so. While Garnett said he would have to review the specific language of any proposed legislation to end it, he did say he supported doing away with the punishment.

"As the D.A. in Boulder I want to be a voice for a progressive approach to law enforcement and public safety," Garnett said. "I don't think the death penalty is a tool that is useful or should be a part of law enforcement in Colorado."

Garnett said the problem with the death penalty is a practical one. Very few cases ever meet the criteria to seek the death penalty, and because trials involving the death penalty take longer and often see more appeals, they cost prosecutors more to take to trial.

"If something is not working or not relevant, I tend to say, 'Why do we even have this on the books?'" Garnett said. "It just isn't used very often."

Westword reported on December 27, "Death penalty: As legislators consider repeal, John Morse says he's now supportive."  It's by Sam Levin.

With the new year comes a new legislative session, and there's already talk about a potential effort to repeal the death penalty in Colorado.

And John Morse, a Democrat and the new president of the Senate, says he is likely to support a repeal. This would be a major shift from his previous stance on the matter -- and it will be a personal struggle for him, he says.

And:

Representative Mark Ferrandino, the new speaker in Colorado, told reporters that he has spoken to both interest groups and other legislators about the death penalty, and said his opinion has not changed on the matter. "I voted in favor of a repeal and would continue to be in favor of repealing the death penalty," he said.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.  Related posts are in the abolition and state legislation category indexes.

Connecticut Racial Bias Trial Resumes

"Conn. death penalty trial to resume," is the AP report, via the Danbury News Times.

A trial is scheduled to resume in the case of five Connecticut death row inmates who claim their prosecutions were fraught with racial and geographical biases.

The habeas corpus trial is set to continue Tuesday at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, with a video feed for the public available at Rockville Superior Court. The trial has been held on and off for the past three months.

Five of the 11 men on the state's death row claim their death penalties were prosecuted in arbitrary and discriminatory ways based on their race and where their trials were heard. Prosecutors deny the claims.

Six men on death row are black, four are white and one is Hispanic.

Earlier coverage from the racial bias trial begins at the link.  Additional Connecticut coverage is also available.

Connecticut Racial/Geographic Bias Trial Resumes

"Conn. death penalty trial to resume," is the AP report, via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

A trial is set to continue for Connecticut death row inmates who claim their prosecutions were fraught with racial and geographical biases.

Five of the 11 men on the state's death row are plaintiffs in the appeal trial being held at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers. The proceeding is set to resume Monday. It's been held on and off for the past two months, with a video feed for the public at Rockville Superior Court.

The inmates claim their death penalties were decided in arbitrary and discriminatory ways based on their race and where they were prosecuted. Prosecutors deny the claim.

Earlier coverage from Connecticut begins at the link.

Connecticut Racial Bias Trial Temporarily on Hold

"Death Penalty Bias Case Put On Hold," is Alaine Griffin's report in today's Hartford Courant.

The landmark case that challenges the death sentences of five of Connecticut's 10 death-row inmates based on racial and geographic bias was put on hold Wednesday because one of the expert witnesses is scheduled to travel out of the country.

Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza halted testimony in the trial's 13th day, saying evidence would resume later this month with additional witnesses and again in November when Stanford Law School Professor John J. Donohue III is expected to return from Italy.

Last month, Donohue – the inmates' key witness – testified that there are "strikingly large" disparities along racial and geographic lines when it comes to death penalty prosecutions in Connecticut. Attorneys for the inmates are planning to bring Donohue back to the witness stand.

The hiatus in the trial means the convicted killers - Sedrick Cobb, Todd Rizzo, Daniel Webb, Robert Breton Sr. and Richard Reynolds – may not know Sferrazza's decision on whether their death sentences should be overturned until the end of the year or early next year.

Battling experts' complex testimony – accompanied by numerical charts and tables – is at the heart of the case, which dates back two decades when Cobb first raised racial bias claims after he was sentenced to death for the 1989 rape and murder of 23-year-old Julia Ashe of Watertown.

And:

The trial began last month in an improvised courtroom in a prison dayroom at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, where death row is housed. The inmates, with their wrists and ankles shackled, sat with their attorneys during testimony.

Most of the testimony has come from Donohue and the state's expert, Stephan Michelson.

Donohue used his analysis of 4,700 murders in the state from 1973 to 2007 to bolster the inmates' claims that death sentences are influenced by race and geography instead of solely on the egregiousness of the crime and the culpability of the defendant.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias trial begins at the line.

An Update From the Connecticut Racial Bias Trial

"State Witness To Dispute Death-Penalty Bias Evidence," is alaine Griffin's continuing coverage report for the Hartford Courant.

Testimony beginning Friday from a key state witness is expected to dispute a Stanford Law School professor's findings that he says shows racial and geographic bias play a part in how death penalty cases are prosecuted in Connecticut.

But lawyers for five of the state's 10 death-row inmates challenging their death sentences in a lawsuit said they will not only challenge the methodology of the work done by the state's expert witness, Stephan Michelson, but also they will question whether he is qualified to testify in a case about the death penalty.

The inmates' lawyers rested their case Thursday following days of direct questioning and cross-examination of Professor John J. Donohue III. Donohue, who has conducted studies and written about the impact law and public policy have on crime and criminal justice, has taught at Stanford and Yale.

Donohue testified that after reviewing nearly 4,700 murders in Connecticut from 1973 to 2007, he found that minority defendants in murder cases with white victims are three times more likely to receive a death sentence as white defendants in murder cases with white victims.

Donohue also testified that those eligible for death in the judicial district in Waterbury were sentenced to death at much higher rates than defendants tried elsewhere in the state.

Donohue's research showed that of the nearly 4,700 murders committed in those 34 years, 66 led to convictions of a capital felony and nine defendants received a death sentence.

Though state legislators in April abolished the death penalty for future offenses, the 10 men on death row and those with pending death-eligible cases still face execution. Last week, the state Supreme Court agreed to consider the constitutionality of the death penalty for the death-row inmates in light of the repeal. Those arguments will be made at a later date.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias trial begins at the link; also available, news of the impact of repeal on existing death sentences.

Death Penalty in a State of Confusion

That's the title of an editorial published in the Sunday edition of the Durham Herald-Sun in North Carolina.

Stanley Peele, a columnist for The Herald-Sun and Chapel Hill Herald, wrote a three-part series on the death penalty that appeared in The Herald-Sun this week. He highlights a number of concerns with how the death penalty is implemented, and what the state of death row is today in North Carolina.

Death row is in limbo in North Carolina, thanks to a number of factors that have combined to result, in essence, in a moratorium on the death penalty in our state, in all but name.

No inmate has been put to death since Aug. 18, 2006, though 155 inmates remain on death row.

It is a relief that death row has ground to a halt. A system as rife with inconsistencies and potential unfairness as this one should not be used to deal out the ultimate punishment.

Peele, a judge who serves in an emergency capacity throughout the state, makes a number of compelling points in his series.

Defendants are more likely to get a death sentence in Wake County, which has 10 death row inmates, than Durham County, which has none.

About 149 cases stand to be litigated under the Racial Justice Act, a law that allows statistics to be used in order to show bias, and if bias is shown, a sentence would be reduced from death to life without parole. Those cases, Peele writes, may take years in some instances to decide. The Racial Justice Act was used in a case this year to reduce a sentence to life, although since that case it has been weakened by an amendment passed in July.

The state may be unable to find medical assistance to perform executions, with both the American Medical Association and North Carolina Medical Board opposed to having doctors attend. (North Carolina’s method of execution is lethal injection).

"Death sentences more likely in some counties than others," is the first of Stanley Peele's three-article series.

In North Carolina there were no executions between 1961 and 1984. Since then, we have had six years in which there were no executions, nine years in which there were one or two executions, five years with three executions, three years with four executions, and one year in which there were five executions.

There has been a marked drop in the number of death penalties imposed in North Carolina. In 1995, 34 prisoners were sent to death row. By 2007, the number dropped to seven; and starting with 2007, an average of 2.6 prisoners per year have gone to death row.

On Feb. 18, 2011, the death sentence of Isaac Jackson Stroud, of Durham, was commuted to life in prison without parole. The reason for this commutation was Stroud’s diminished mental state at the time of the murder. It is alleged that he could not understand why he was sentenced to death.

As a result, there are no prisoners from Durham County on death row.

It also means there are now eight counties in the central-northern part of the state that have no prisoners on death row. Those counties are Lee, Chatham, Orange, Durham, Person Granville, Vance, Warren and Franklin.

It is noteworthy that Wake County, which adjoins Durham and Orange Counties, has 10 prisoners on death row, the second-highest in the state. The county with the most people on death row is Forsyth with 13. Other counties with high numbers are: Cumberland with nine, Buncombe with eight, Randolph with eight and both Johnston and Gaston with seven. Fifty-six counties have prisoners on death row, and most of them have one or two prisoners there. Forty four counties have no death row prisoners.

Defendants have been more likely to get a death sentence in certain counties than others.

"Examining the death row population is complex," is the second article in the series.

There are 155 people on death row in North Carolina.

There have been no executions in North Carolina since Aug. 18, 2006. Is there a sensible way to deal with those on death row? Should they be kept there indefinitely?

Would it make sense to reduce the number of people on death row? And if this is done, how would it be done? One can say that this problem is so difficult that it nears impossibility. An attempt to rank them by the degree of cruelty or callousness of the offense for which they are on death row would be a grisly task, for the juries found all of them to be cruel and callous. Here are some possibilities:

The three-article series concludes with, "N.C. death penalty law remains in limbo."

There is a deadly war being fought. First, there are those who believe in the death penalty. Second, there are those who do not. Third, you have those in the middle. Some are undecided.

There are some legislators and judges who do not believe in the death penalty, but who cannot express their opinions. Legislators cannot express their opinion because they think to do so would be political suicide. Judges cannot do so because they are sworn to uphold the law.

There is a further complication. It is one thing to believe in the death penalty. Yet the closer a prisoner comes to an execution date, the more there is a tendency to be open to finding reasons to stay the execution.

The prospect of an actual execution weighs heavily upon us all.

Some judges may agree with the Michigan State University study citing bias in North Carolina death row cases, and other judges may disagree. If this happens, then we will have some prisoners who will be removed from death row and some who will not. This will mean our handling of death row cases will be unbalanced.

Earlier coverage from North Carolina begins at the link.  Thanks to Gerda Stein for distributing.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and race indexes.

Connecticut Supreme Court to Examine Repeal Impact

"State Supreme Court To Consider If Death Penalty Repeal Should Affect Current Cases," is Alaine Griffin's breaking news report in the Hartford Courant.

The state Supreme Court has agreed to take up the issue of whether the recent repeal of Connecticut's death penalty can apply only to future crimes.

In a ruling Thursday, the state's highest court granted a request by Eduardo Santiago, whose death sentence was overturned in June, for written briefs and arguments on a legal filing that raises questions about the repeal's impact on those who committed capital crimes before the new law was passed.

The new law abolishes the death penalty for future capital crimes committed in Connecticut but allows executions for those who committed similar crimes before April, when the repeal took effect.

Thursday's ruling was issued as five of the 11 inmates on Connecticut's death row continue to fight their death sentences in a landmark habeas corpus trial being held at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers where death row is housed. The issue in that case is whether the death penalty has been implemented in a racially and geographically biased way.

It was not known early Friday whether Thursday's ruling would affect the trial.

Before the trial began, the inmates tried unsuccessfully to raise the issue of the repeal's impact on their death sentences. The judge said claims stemming from the repeal raise legal questions distinct from the evidence being presented at the habeas trial.

The Supreme Court on Thursday gave attorneys for Santiago until Nov. 13 to file briefs. The state will then have 60 days to respond. A hearing could be held sometime early next year.

Courant reporter Griffin has been covering the racial bias trial.  Her latest article is, "Witness: "Strikingly Large" Disparities In Death Penalty Cases."

A key witness for five death row inmates challenging the fairness of their death sentences testified Wednesday that there are "strikingly large" disparities along racial and geographic lines when it comes to the death penalty in Connecticut.

Stanford Law Prof. John J. Donohue III testified that minority defendants whose victims were white were three times more likely to receive a death sentence than white defendants whose victims were white.

Donohue reviewed 205 death-eligible cases in Connecticut from 1973 to 2007, including 141 in which the defendants were charged with capital felony, which made execution possible.

Where defendants are prosecuted is significant, too, Donohue testified, saying that one judicial district stood out - Waterbury. Those eligible for death there were sentenced at much higher rates than defendants tried elsewhere in state, he testified.

Donohue said former Waterbury State's Attorney John A. Connelly was "outspoken" about the death penalty and he was "criticized for his overzealousness." So, Donohue said, "looking at Waterbury was a natural thing to do."

In Waterbury, between 1973 and 2007, of the 12 death penalty eligible cases that were examined, four resulted in a death sentence, for a 33.3 percent rate. During that time, there were 193 death eligible cases in other areas of the state that were examined. Of those, five, or 2.6 percent, resulted in a death sentence.

Both Waterbury cases in which the defendant was a minority and the victim was white resulted in death sentences. In the rest of the state, two of 32 cases in which the defendant was a minority and the victim was white resulted in a death sentence, for a rate of 6.3 percent.

Donohue said he looked closely at the "egregiousness" or atrociousness of each crime, identifying the number of victims, who the victims were, how much a victim suffered and the culpability of the defendant. He said he concluded that the administration of the death penalty in Connecticut does not correspond to the egregiousness of the crime.

Earlier coverage from Connecticut and Connecticut's repeal of the death penalty begins at the links. Coverage of Eduardo Santiago's case is also available.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and race indexes

You can also view the abstract of John Donohue's study, Capital Punishment in Connecticut, 1973-2007: A Comprehensive Evaluation from 4686 Murders to One Execution.

More Sacramento Bee Editorials in Support of Prop. 34

The Bee is publishing editorials all week in support of Prop. 34, breaking capital punishments issues out one by one.  Both editorials feature graphics.

Today's Bee publishes, "Death penalty deters murders? Evidence doesn't bear that out."

Ever since California added the death penalty to its penal code in the 1870s, supporters have argued that the threat of executions would make potential murderers think twice before committing heinous crimes.

The Bee made that argument numerous times in its early years, and many politicians and prosecutors have offered it since. But does the evidence show that capital punishment deters murders, even when applied frequently and expeditiously? Research suggests it does not.

One obvious way to look at the problem is to compare the murder rates in states with executions and those without.

For example, compare the homicide rates in California, New York and Texas, as the National Research Council has done. From 1974 to 2009, the homicide rates in those three states tracked virtually identically – going up at the same time in the late 1970s and late 1980s and all declining dramatically since then.

Yet during that time Texas had 447 executions and New York had none; California had 13. Clearly, something other than executions has had an effect on declining murder rates. And that clearly is what we should focus on.

And:

Those who support the death penalty and those who oppose it will hew to their positions regardless of the evidence on deterrence. In the end, it is our values that will have to decide the matter.

"Death penalty is applied unevenly statewide," is the editorial from the Tuesday Bee.

A bedrock principle of our legal system is that justice is applied equally. No matter who you are or where you live, you're the same in the eyes of the law.

But in California, the most serious punishment – the death penalty – is not being applied equally.

Whether defendants get the death penalty depends as much, if not more, on where they did their crime as what they did. This disparity can't be considered evenhanded justice.

In fact, the vast majority of death sentences are being handed down in a handful of Southern California counties. In effect, the death penalty has already ended in most counties.

In the first half of 2012, there were 11 death sentences imposed in the state. Nine were in Los Angeles or Riverside counties.

Last year, California juries delivered only 10 death sentences, the fewest since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1978. Eight were in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. Those three counties also accounted for 24 of 29 death sentences in 2009 and 16 of 29 in 2010, according to the ACLU of Northern California.

And:

Yet without a solution, the death penalty will continue to be applied unfairly across the state. Are we really willing to accept that someone could get life – or death – based on which side of a county line the victim happened to die?

That leaves far too much to the whims of fate. That is not evenhanded justice.

Still to come, "Why can't California carry out executions like Texas? It is not a legal system we would want to emulate," in tomorrow's edition.  On Friday, "Why voters should support Proposition 34, which would end the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole."

Earlier coverage from California begins at the link; you can also jump to the earlier Bee editorial.

More on Prop. 34 at SAFE Caliornia.

Related posts are in the deterrence and geographic disparity category indexes.

Connecticut Racial Bias Trial Continues Today

The Hartford Courant is providing extensive coverage of the trial.  Today's Courant reports, "Death Row Inmates Continue Fight To Overturn Sentences."  It's by Alaine Griffin.  Here's the beginning:

The trial challenging the death sentences of five of Connecticut's death-row inmates will shift Tuesday morning to competing experts' analysis of whether race and geography played a role in prosecutors' decisions to seek executions.

The testimony is expected to be complex as attorneys attempt to sort through the methodology, underlying assumptions and statistical theories – key evidence Superior Court Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza will use to decide whether the condemned inmates' death sentences should be overturned.

Though state legislators in April abolished the death penalty for future offenses, the 11 men on death row still face execution. And, there are three pending death-eligible cases, including the case of Jose Jusino, charged with killing his prison cellmate three years ago. Jusino's trial began Monday.

Before the bias trial began, the inmates tried unsuccessfully to raise the issue of whether the death penalty should still apply to those already on death row. Sferrazza said the new claims stemming from the repeal raise legal questions distinct from the unique statistics-based analysis evidence that will be presented in the discrimination trial.

That evidence is expected to come from Stanford Law School professor John Donohue III, whose research has concluded that race and geography do play a factor in capital punishment in Connecticut, bolstering the claims of the black, white and Hispanic death row inmates who say the system is both arbitrary and biased.

Donohue, who used to teach at Yale University, reviewed capital cases in Connecticut from 1973 to 2007, finding that minority defendants whose victims were white were more likely to be sentenced to death than others.

Those facing capital charges in the city of Waterbury, according to Donohue, were at least seven times as likely to be sentenced to death as in other judicial districts. Former Waterbury State's Attorney John A. Connelly has prosecuted six men who were sentenced to death.

The state is being represented by a team of prosecutors from the chief state's attorney's office. They are expected to vigorously challenge Donohue's findings, pointing to evidence they say shows that race and geography did not affect the administration of the death penalty in Connecticut. Their own expert, Stephan Michelson, in his testimony is expected to dispute Donohue's findings, saying his conclusions were flawed and that erroneous inclusions of non-death eligible cases in a Donohue report forced Michelson to alter his own report.

"Death Row Inmates' Hopes Rest On Bias Data," also by Griffin is from the Monday Courant.

When the landmark case that challenges the death sentences of five of Connecticut's 11 death-row inmates resumes Tuesday, testimony will shift to competing experts' analysis of whether race and geography played a role in prosecutors' decisions to seek executions.

The testimony is expected to be complex as attorneys attempt to sort through the methodology, underlying assumptions and statistical theories – key evidence Superior Court Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza will use to decide whether the condemned inmates' death sentences should be overturned.

Though state legislators in April abolished the death penalty for future offenses, the 11 men on death row still face execution. And, there are three pending death-eligible cases, including the case of Jose Jusino, charged with killing his prison cellmate three years ago. Jusino's trial began Monday.

"Conn. Court Examines Alleged Death Penalty Bias," is Diane Orson's report from today's edition of NPR Morning Edition.  There is audio at the link.

A legal case under way in Connecticut, involving a group of death row inmates, has attracted some national attention. The trial resumes Tuesday and centers on whether there's been race, gender and geographic bias in Connecticut's death penalty cases.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut trial begins at the link.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and race category indexes.

Continuing Coverage of Connecticut Racial Bias Trial

"Prosecutors Spared Further Grilling In Death Penalty Bias Case," is thee Hartford Courant report written by Alaine Griffin.  Here's the beginning of this detailed article.

At the prison where he sent one of the state's most notorious killers to death row, the state's top prosecutor testified on a makeshift witness stand Wednesday in an unusual and long-awaited trial challenging the fairness of Connecticut's death penalty.

Five of the 11 men on death row, dressed in yellow jumpsuits, their wrists and ankles shackled, looked on while seated at metal tables bolted to the floor as Chief's State's Attorney Kevin T. Kane explained that state laws – not written policies or guidelines – help prosecutors decide when to seek the ultimate punishment for killers in capital cases.

How prosecutors decide whether to seek execution was the focus of the first day of testimony in the trial on claims by the condemned killers that Connecticut's death penalty – recently abolished but still applicable to those on death row - is racially, ethnically and geographically biased.

Kane, under questioning from attorney Richard Reeve, who is representing death row inmate Daniel Webb, convicted of the 1989 kidnapping and murder in Hartford of Diane Gellenbeck, testified that prosecutors look to the state's "very precise" death penalty statutes, Supreme Court decisions and police reports related to the crime. He said prosecutors also discuss the case with victims' families and review police interviews with witnesses.

And though in some cases evidence may have supported charging someone with a capital crime, Kane said he did not always file such a charge.

"And you did that because you believe you had unfettered discretion?" asked attorney David S. Golub, who represents Sedrick Cobb, convicted of the 1989 kidnapping, rape and murder of Julia Ashe of Watertown.

"I'm a little hesitant to use the word unfettered," Kane said. "I believe I had discretion to do that."

Kane, who was the New London state's attorney from 1995 to 2006, the year he was appointed chief state's attorney, said though he was aware of informal discussions through the years among prosecutors about whether there should be formal guidelines, ultimately "there were no specific policies directed to capital felony cases."

Kane had prosecuted serial killer Michael Ross, the last person put to death in Connecticut.

"No Guidelines on Seeking Death Penalty in Connecticut, Official Testifies in Trial Forced by 5 Death Row Inmates," by Randall Beach for the New Haven Register, via the Litchfield County Times.

There are no written or oral guidelines as to how state’s attorneys in Connecticut decide whether to seek capital felony charges and the death penalty, according to a top judicial official’s testimony Wednesday in a lawsuit by death row inmates.

Five of the 11 men on death row Wednesday began their habeas corpus trial on their allegation that the state’s death penalty law carries a racial, ethnic and geographic disparity. They want their death sentences changed to life in prison without parole.

Connecticut abolished the death penalty this year but that does not apply to those already on death row.

Under questioning by attorney Richard Reeve, who represents Daniel Webb, Chief State’s Attorney Kevin T. Kane acknowledged the state’s attorneys in each judicial district do not have any written guidelines or policies, nor oral ones, when they decide whether a defendant should be charged with a capital felony and whether to seek the death penalty.

But Kane said the state’s attorneys study statutes and court rulings in making their decisions. He said these criteria are “very precise.”

However, attorney David Golub, representing Sedrick Cobb, referred Wednesday to a “different” standard that was used by John Connelly when he was state’s attorney for the judicial district of Waterbury. Connelly sought and achieved the conviction of four of the 11 men on death row.

The trial, expected to last most of September, is being conducted with unusual logistics. Approximately 10 reporters sat in a Rockville Superior Court basement courtroom, watching a live feed from Northern Correctional Institution in Somers. Superior Court Judge Samuel Sferrazza was in the prison, with attorneys, court staff and the five inmates, who were in yellow prison garb.

"Conn. death row inmates fight sentences," by Mason Kroll and Matthew Lloyd-Thomas for the Yale Daily News.

The trial of seven Connecticut death row inmates seeking to overturn their death penalties on the basis of judicial bias began Wednesday at the Northern Correctional Institute in Somers, Conn.

The seven inmates, all convicted of murder before the repeal of Connecticut’s death penalty last spring, claim that racial and geographic bias unjustly affected their sentencing. The inmates’ case is largely drawn from the research of former Yale Law School and current Stanford Law School professor John Donohue III GRD ’86, who analyzed discriminatory bias in capital cases within the Connecticut justice system from 1973 to 2007.

When Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish the death penalty on April 25, legislators worded the repeal legislation so that it did not apply to those who had been sentenced to death before the repeal date.

The trial, presided over by Judge Samuel Sferrazza, began with testimony from Chief State Attorney Kevin Kane, according to the Hartford Courant. Amid security concerns, it is taking place in a makeshift courthouse in the prison, with a live video stream for the media screened 15 miles away in a courthouse in Rockville, Conn. Donohue, a noted statistician, will serve as an expert witness for the inmates and will likely give testimony next week, he said.

Donohue began work on the study six years ago, while he was still a Yale Law School professor specializing on the use of the death penalty as a deterrent, and completed it in 2011. The study, which has not yet been published, examined the 4,686 murders committed in Connecticut over three decades and the resulting nine sustained death sentences. Since 2007, two more men have been sentenced to death, bringing the state’s total number of death row inmates up to 11. Donohue said he and a group of Yale Law School students created an “egregiousness rating system” that considered victim suffering, victim characteristics, defendant’s culpability and the number of victims.

The study, according to Donohue, revealed that minorities who kill whites are three times as likely to receive the death penalty as whites who kill whites and six times as likely to be put to death as minorities who kill minorities. Additionally, the study found that the application of the death penalty is not correlated to the egregiousness of the crime, as rated by the study’s index. In fact, cases with both white perpetrators and victims were, on average, more egregious. Together, these findings suggest racial and geographic bias in the state’s use of the death penalty, according to Donohue.

“The facts seem to suggest that the state would not comply with the constitutional standards for running a death penalty regime,” Donohue said.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias trial begins at the link.

Death Penalty Repeal Comes Into Focus

The Day of Connecticut publishes the above-titled editorial, as a death penalty bias trial begins.

In the past legislative session this newspaper applauded the General Assembly and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for repealing the death penalty, despite it being a politically unpopular stance. The Day has grounded its long-held editorial opposition to state executions on several principles. Humans make mistakes, but an execution is a mistake no one can correct. Societies should take the high moral ground and not kill murderers in eye-for-an-eye retribution. Imposition of the death penalty can be arbitrary, and because of appeals, often ends up costing taxpayers more than a life sentence without parole.

But while applauding repeal, we pointed to the moral equivocation that led the governor and majority in the legislature to end the death penalty only going forward. The 11 men on death row, at least according to the law, are still to be executed unless they successfully appeal their death sentences. This was a political contrivance, a way of repealing the death penalty without having to also repeal the sentences of those previously convicted and waiting on death row.

The backdrop of the legislative debate was, of course, the continuing legal proceedings stemming from the heinous Cheshire murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Hayley and Michaela.

And:

A highly unusual trial is set to begin today at the state prison at Somers. Seven of the 11 death-row inmates will challenge the constitutionality of Connecticut's capital punishment statute. Their primary evidence will be the exhaustive 2011 study by Professor John J. Donohue III, of the Stanford Law School's National Bureau of Economic Research. Mr. Donohue reviewed 4,686 murders committed in Connecticut from 1973-2007.

He found that imposition of the death penalty in Connecticut was "arbitrary and capricious" with "no meaningful difference between capital-eligible murders in which prosecutors pursue capital charges and those in which prosecutors do not." Supposedly reserved for the "worst of the worst," in reality many of the most egregious murderers never faced the death penalty, Mr. Donohue found.

Most alarmingly, minority defendants who committed death-penalty-eligible murders of white victims were six times as likely to receive a death sentence as were minority defendants who committed death-penalty-eligible murders of minority victims. And minority defendants who murdered white victims were three times as likely to receive a death sentence as white defendants who murdered white victims.

"Prosecutors Will Take Stand In Death Penalty Bias Trial," is Alaine Griffin's news report for the Hartford Courant.  Here's an extended excerpt:

Chief State's Attorney Kevin T. Kane is expected to be one of the first witnesses Wednesday in the long-awaited habeas corpus trial on claims by condemned killers that Connecticut's death penalty is racially, ethnically and geographically biased.

Kane and other state prosecutors – including New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington, who successfully sought the death penalty for Cheshire home invasion killers Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky – will likely testify about their decisions to pursue death by lethal injection for certain accused murderers, and sentences of life in prison for others.

Starting Wednesday and for several weeks, the judge, lawyers, court staff and witnesses in the case will travel to Northern Correctional Institution in Somers where the trial is being held in a prison dayroom. Northern houses Connecticut's death row.

The public can view the proceedings through a live video feed being shown at Superior Court in Rockville where habeas corpus petitions are usually heard. The unusual trial plan was created after correction officials expressed safety concerns about the death row inmates all being in the same courtroom at once in Rockville.

Under the new plan, according to court documents, each of the seven inmates in the case will attend the trial while seated at stainless steel tables bolted to the floor.

Repeal of the death penalty by lawmakers earlier this year raised questions about whether the discrimination trial should be put on hold until the state Supreme Court decides the constitutionality of the repeal for future crimes.

The historic vote at the legislature in April abolished the death penalty for future crimes but allows executions for those who committed capital crimes before the new law was passed.

Superior Court Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza decided to move ahead with the case, which has languished for years. Sferrazza in July rejected requests by the death row inmates involved in the habeus corpus trial to amend their petition to raise new issues related to the state's decision to abolish capital punishment for future crimes.

Sferrazza said those issues could be raised in a separate petition without delaying consideration of the discrimination claims.

Death row inmates' claims of bias date back to 1994 when Sedrick Cobb asked for the opportunity to present statistics to demonstrate that racial discrimination influenced the death penalty.

The updated AP filing is, "7 Connecticut death row inmates challenging sentences."  It's also available via the Lichfield Register Citizen.

Connecticut death row inmates who have sued the state to get their sentences overturned, argue that race and geographic bias played a part in their criminal prosecution.

Seven of the 11 men on Connecticut's death row are plaintiffs in the case. They claim their penalty was decided in an arbitrary and discriminatory way based on their race and where they were prosecuted.

The trial of their lawsuit is scheduled to begin Wednesday at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers. The public can watch by video feed at Rockville Superior Court, about 15 miles away.

Connecticut abolished the death penalty this year, but the ban applies to capital cases since April 25.

And:

The plaintiff inmates, all sentenced before 2008, are Sedrick Cobb, Daniel Webb, Richard Reynolds, Robert Breton, Jesse Campbell, Lazale Ashby and Todd Rizzo.

"Connecticut Prepares for Trial over Death Penalty," is Joe Palazzolo's post at the Wall Street Journal Law blog.

The study, by Stanford University professor John Donahue, showed that minority defendants who murdered white victims were three times as likely to receive the death sentence as white defendants who murdered white victims. The study also found that minority defendants who murdered white victims were about six times as likely to receive the death penalty as minority defendants who murdered minority victims.

“The issue is whether the death penalty in Connecticut has been administered in a discriminatory or arbitrary way,” David Golub, a Stamford attorney representing condemned killer Sedrick Cobb, told the AP.

State prosecutors hired their own expert who disputes much of the Donahue report, which was commissioned by the chief public defender’s office.

The link above will take you to the abstract of John Donohue's study, Capital Punishment in Connecticut, 1973-2007: A Comprehensive Evaluation from 4686 Murders to One Execution.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias lawsuit and trial preview begins at the link.  Related posts are in the geographic disparity and race indexes.

Connecticut Trial Begins

"A Trial on Death Row," is the New York Times report by Lincoln Caplan.

An extraordinary trial is scheduled to begin Wednesday in Connecticut, held at the prison housing the state’s death row. The petitioners are inmates sentenced to death for violent felonies, who are seeking to have their sentences reduced to life without parole on the ground that the death penalty in Connecticut is unconstitutional because it has been randomly imposed on a small group of people.

In April, Connecticut became the 17th state to abolish the death penalty and the fifth in five years. But that law does not apply to those already sentenced. The inmates in this case will be presenting evidence compiled by John Donohue, a Stanford law professor, who studied how capital punishment was imposed in every Connecticut murder case from 1973 (when the state passed a death penalty law) to 2007. His analysis dispelled the erroneous claim that only the “worst of the worst” among criminals are given the death penalty. Instead, he found that the penalty has been applied with “arbitrariness and discrimination” based on race and geography, and that death row inmates are indistinguishable from other violent offenders who escaped capital punishment.

The Day publishes the AP filing, "Trial challenging Ct.'s death penalty to begin."  It's  by Dave Collins.

One of the most unusual trials in recent memory in Connecticut is set to begin this week, when seven of the 11 men on the state's death row will be brought into a makeshift courtroom at a prison in Somers as they challenge the fairness of the death penalty.

The inmates are suing the state, alleging racial and geographic biases in how prosecutors seek the death penalty and seeking to have their death sentences overturned. After seven years of legal wrangling, the trial is scheduled to start Wednesday.

"The issue is whether the death penalty in Connecticut has been administered in a discriminatory or arbitrary way," said David Golub, a Stamford attorney representing condemned killer Sedrick Cobb.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed to hold the trial in a vacant housing unit at the Northern Correctional Institution and provide a video feed for the public about 15 miles away at Rockville Superior Court. The inmates will sit at tables in a prison day room with their attorneys, while other tables will be set up for Judge Samuel Sferrazza and prosecutors, according to lawyers in the case and Correction Department officials.

And:

The key evidence for the inmates is a study by Stanford University professor John Donahue, a former Yale University professor who reviewed the nearly 4,700 murders in Connecticut from 1973 to 2007. Among those, Donahue said 205 were death penalty-eligible cases that resulted in a homicide conviction, and defendants in 138 of the 205 murders were charged with capital felony.

The end results of those murder prosecutions were 66 capital felony convictions, nine death sentences and the execution of serial killer Michael Ross in 2005.

Donahue said he found that minority defendants who murder white victims are three times as likely to receive a death sentence as white defendants who murder white victims. He also found that minority defendants who commit death penalty-eligible murders of white victims are six times as likely to receive a death sentence as minority defendants who commit death penalty-eligible murders of minority victims.

The study, which was commissioned by the chief public defender's office, also concluded that Connecticut's capital punishment system was arbitrary and includes geographic biases.

Donahue said that although the death penalty is usually reserved for the "worst of the worst" cases, eight of the nine death sentences affirmed between 1973 and 2007 were not among the 15 most egregious cases. He said death penalty-eligible defendants in Waterbury were sentenced to death at much higher rates than such defendants elsewhere in the state.

"A comprehensive assessment of this process ... reveals a troubling picture," Donahue wrote in the study. "Overall, the state's record of handling death-eligible cases represents a chaotic and unsound criminal justice policy that serves neither deterrence nor retribution."

State prosecutors disagree with the study's findings and deny any biases in the way death penalty cases are pursued.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias trial begins at the link.  Related posts are in the geographic disparity and race indexes.

Coverage of Connecticut's repeal of the death penalty is also available.

Jefferson County Texas

Today's Beaumont Enterprise reports, "The number of SE Texas prisoners on Death Row could increase dramatically," by Heather Nolan.

Once known as the source of the most death row inmates per capita, Jefferson County could see a new spike in the number of prisoners awaiting execution if prosecutors ask for and get the death penalty in more than a dozen capital murder cases now awaiting trial.

Since Texas instituted the death penalty in 1923, 23 inmates from Jefferson County have been sentenced to die. That's the sixth-highest overall total in the state, behind much-larger counties including Harris, Dallas and Bexar.

"I guess we know what we're doing," Assistant District Attorney Ed Shettle said recently from his downtown Beaumont office.

"We've done it quite a bit and ... we know what it takes to be successful."

Now, only one inmate from Jefferson County - Elroy Chester - is on death row, but that number could increase dramatically if prosecutors decide to seek the death penalty in the 15 capital murder cases awaiting disposition.

And:

The number of inmates sentenced to death across the state and in the county has dipped dramatically in recent years, which many people say is partially a result of a 2005 law that made life without parole an option in capital murder cases.

Beaumont defense attorney Doug Barlow said that option has "changed the playing field greatly."

One of the concerns under the old statute, he said, was that a defendant theoretically could be released from prison. Prior to the 2005 law, a capital murder defendant who was not sentenced to death could be sentenced to life in prison with the option for parole after 40 years.

"When the Legislature changed it only to the option of life without parole or the death penalty, that took the death penalty off the table in a lot of cases," he said.

Related posts are in the geographic disparity and prosecution indexes.

Colorado Death Penalty Law Unconstitutional, Study Contends

That's the title of a news report in today's Denver Post written by John Ingold.

Colorado prosecutors could seek the death penalty in the vast majority of first-degree murder cases in the state but instead pursue it so infrequently that the state's capital-punishment system is unconstitutionally arbitrary, three law professors argue in a new study.

The conclusion could be earth-shaking for the Colorado criminal-justice system, at a time when prosecutors in Arapahoe County are deciding whether to pursue the death penalty against Aurora shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes. It could have more direct implications in the looming death-penalty sentencing hearing of Edward Montour — whose defense team initiated the study and included it in a motion.

"This is a groundbreaking study," said David Lane, one of Montour's defense attorneys.

Colorado law says a person must be convicted of first-degree murder, the most serious murder charge, and also meet an extra aggravating factor to be eligible for a death sentence. To conduct the study, the professors — in a first-of-its-kind effort in Colorado — assembled a list of all homicide cases between 1999 and 2010, then identified which of those cases were first-degree murder cases.

The study finds that 92 percent of the state's 544 first-degree murder cases in that time span contained at least one of the aggravating factors that make the case eligible for the death penalty. But prosecutors filed notices of intent to seek the death penalty in only 15 murder cases during that span and pursued the death penalty at trial in only five of those cases — a 1 percent rate among death-eligible cases.

"Under the Colorado capital sentencing system," the authors write in their report, "many defendants are eligible but almost none are actually sentenced to death. Because Colorado's aggravating factors so rarely result in actual death sentences, their use in any given case is a violation of the Eighth Amendment."

The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.

The study was conducted by University of Denver law professors Justin Marceau and Sam Kamin and Rowan University professor Wanda Foglia with funds provided by Montour's defense team.

And:

Montour's team has now included the new study into a motion asking a judge to cancel Montour's sentencing hearing and find the Colorado death- penalty law unconstitutional.

The Pueblo Chieftain reports, "Three inmates jailed on death row; Colorado has not executed a prisoner since 1997."  It's by Tracy Harmon.

While prosecutors in Arapahoe County ponder whether to seek the death penalty for theater shooting suspect James Holmes, the state still maintains its execution room at Colorado State Penitentiary.

"The death chamber still is at CSP. An execution would be at CSP at this point in time," said Katherine Sanguinetti, Colorado Department of Corrections spokeswoman.

The state has three death row inmates — all incarcerated at Sterling Correctional Facility. All three were convicted for murders in Arapahoe County, where Holmes also is accused of killing 12 patrons and wounding another 58 on Friday at an Aurora movie theater.

And:

Fifteen years ago, the number of death row inmates was five. One of them actually was executed and only one — Dunlap — remains on death row. The state's last execution came Oct. 13, 1997, when Gary Lee Davis, 53, was given a lethal injection at Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City.

Today's Denver Post also reports, "New Arapahoe County DA will get biggest case on first day in office — Holmes," by Carlos Illescas.

It will be the biggest case of his career, and it will begin the very moment he takes office.

The new district attorney in Arapahoe County will be dealing with the prosecution of a man who allegedly shot up a movie theater, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.

A story that is still making national headlines will bring with it maybe the biggest decision of his career as well: whether to seek the death penalty against James Eagan Holmes, the man charged with the brutal midnight attack carried out during the premiere of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."

That's because it's a question not likely to be left to current District Attorney Carol Chambers, who is term-limited and will leave office in January

after eight years as the top prosecutor in Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties.

Instead, that decision will ultimately come from one of two men who are vying in November to replace Chambers: Democrat Ethan Feldman or Republican George Brauchler.

It's a matter of timing: The sheer movement of the calendar will likely preclude Chambers from making that call should Holmes be convicted in the July 20 Aurora theater shooting.

Holmes is not scheduled to face a preliminary hearing until mid-November, and no date has been set for a possible trial. And even if things started moving more quickly, Holmes' lawyers may want to drag out proceedings so that when the window opens up to seek the death penalty, Chambers — who has sought the ultimate penalty six times during her tenure — is already out of office.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.

Initial Ruling in Connecticut Racial Bias Lawsuit

AP posts, "Judge: Inmates Can’t Bring Up Death Penalty Repeal."  It's via the Hartford Courant.

A judge has ruled that the state's recent repeal of the death penalty can't be raised as an issue in a long-running lawsuit by death row inmates challenging the fairness of capital punishment in Connecticut.

Superior Court Judge Samuel Sferrazza (sfer-AH'-zah) in Rockville said in Thursday's decision that there's no reason to add the repeal issue at such a late stage in the lawsuit because inmates can file new appeals raising the issue. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in September.

And:

The seven-year-old lawsuit claims the state's process for deciding when to seek the death penalty in murder cases was fraught with racial and geographic biases.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias suit begins at the link.

An Update on the Connecticut Racial Bias Lawsuit

Today's Hartford Courant reports, "Death Row Inmates Press Question About New Law Abolishing Executions."  It's by Alaine Griffin.

Since the death penalty repeal was signed into law in April, defense attorneys have been looking for ways to challenge the law's unusual prospective provision, an issue many believe will most likely be taken up by the state's highest court.

But that is not stopping lawyers from raising the issue in state court.

In Rockville Superior Court Tuesday, a defense attorney for one of the death row inmates suing the state over whether prosecution of death penalty cases in Connecticut is legally fair, pushed for resolution to questions about the constitutionality of capital punishment in the state in light of the repeal.

"It really is an issue that's crying out for a decision," Stamford attorney David S. Golub said during a hearing on a lawsuit filed by death row inmates who charge that there is racial, ethnic and geographic disparity in the way the death penalty has been administered in Connecticut.

The legislative repeal abolishes the death penalty for future capital crimes committed in the state but allows executions for those who committed capital crimes before the new law was passed.

In June, the issue was raised at a hearing for Richard Roszkowski, a Trumbull construction worker convicted in 2009 of killing his former girlfriend, her 9-year-old daughter and his former roommate in Bridgeport.

Roszkowski's death sentence was overturned and he is awaiting a new penalty phase in his case.

Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza, the judge in the upcoming habeas corpus trial on death row inmates' claims, scheduled for Sept. 5, held off on weighing in on the matter Tuesday.

Questions about the repeal surfaced during arguments Tuesday on a defense motion to amend the convicts' claims in the case. Sferrezza did not rule on whether inmates can include questions about the new law's prospective provision in their existing petition. He said he would make that decision possibly later this week.

Prosecutors Michael E. O'Hare and Michael Proto agreed that questions about the prospective provision need to be resolved but say the racial disparity civil trial — which has been pending for years — is the not the case in which to resolve them. They said death row inmates can raise the matter in individual court filings.

"Death Row Legal Team Seeks to Argue Abolition For All," by Hugh McQuaid for CT News Junkie.

Lawyers for at least eight of the 10 men sentenced to death in Connecticut argued Tuesday that the state’s repeal of the death penalty was pertinent to their lawsuit alleging that capital punishment is too arbitrary to be constitutional.

The lawsuit rests upon the claim that Connecticut’s death sentence is imposed arbitrarily, with racial and geographic factors making certain offenders more likely to be sentenced to death.

In Rockville Superior Court on Tuesday morning, a team of lawyers argued that Judge Samuel Sferrazza should allow them to amend their complaint to account for the legislature’s repeal of the death penalty for future offenders.

Attorney David Golub said the prospective nature of the new law made the death sentence even more arbitrary because it allows some offenders to be executed while precluding other offenders guilty of similar crimes simply because of the date the crimes were committed.

“If I commit a crime on Monday I get the death penalty. If I commit the same crime on Tuesday I do not,” Golub said. “... It doesn’t make sense.”

However, lawyers from the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office asked the judge to deny the request to change the lawsuit. Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Proto said that rendering illegal the death sentences of the inmates already set to be executed was not lawmakers’ intent when they passed the bill back in April.

Proto said that the legislative enactment was not within the parameters of what the court was tasked with addressing. He said amending the complaint would also add more delays in a case where delay already is inevitable.

"Bias suit may include challenge of new death law," is the AP report, via the Hour.

The lawsuit, in which inmates claim the state's death penalty is racially and geographically biased, is set to go to trial on Sept. 5.

Golub asked Judge Samuel Sferrazza to expand the suit so lawyers could include arguments that the new law is unfair because Connecticut's recent death penalty repeal applies only to future crimes, and not to those already sentenced to death.

The judge did not immediately rule on Golub's request.

Earlier coverage of the Connecticut racial bias lawsuit begins at the link.  Related posts are in the geographic disparity and race indexes

Trial Update on Connecticut Racial Bias Questions

"Death row inmates back holding trial in prison," is the Connecticut AP report, via the Day.

Connecticut death row inmates who are suing the state over alleged racial and geographic biases in the state's death penalty are supporting a plan to hold the trial in a prison instead of a courthouse.

Inmates' lawyers said in a court document filed Friday that the plan by state officials was "adequate." The plan calls for the trial to be held at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, which houses death row, beginning in September and be broadcast via a live video feed to Rockville Superior Court so the public can watch.

The trial would be held in one of the prison's dayrooms, where each inmate and his lawyer would sit together at their own table.

Nine of the 10 men on death row are plaintiffs in the appeal. The state repealed capital punishment for all future crimes earlier this year.

Inmates objected to an earlier plan by the state to hold the trial in Rockville and allow them to watch video feeds in their cells.

The plan to hold the trial in the prison still needs approval by a judge. A hearing on issue is scheduled for July 25 in Rockville.

And:

Six death row inmates are black and three are white, when blacks make up only 10 percent of the state's population. Inmates' lawyers also say several inmates on death row were prosecuted in Waterbury, bolstering claims of geographic bias.

Earlier coverage of questions of racial bias in Connecticut's death sentences begins at the link.

Also from Connecticut, "Death row inmate says new law unfair," by AP writer Pat Eaton-Robb.  It's via the Wilmington News Journal.

Daniel Webb is awaiting execution for the 1989 kidnapping and murder of a Connecticut bank executive, but he believes he is also paying a price for another, unrelated crime that has heavily influenced the state's debate on capital punishment.

Webb told The Associated Press in a death row interview that he thinks there would be no capital punishment in the state if not for the public's desire to execute the men responsible for the 2007 home-invasion slayings of a mother and her two daughters in suburban Cheshire. The only survivor of that crime, Dr. William Petit, lobbied to keep the death penalty for the men who killed his family, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky.

"Dr. Petit is angry with them and with his anger he wants to kill all of us," said Webb, who spoke by telephone from behind a glass window. "Now you are trying to increase my suffering and take away the little that I had because you want to make Komisarjevsky suffer. That's not right."

Webb was sentenced to die for the slaying in Hartford of Diane Gellenbeck, a 37-year-old Connecticut National Bank vice president, who was taken from a downtown parking garage and shot to death near a local golf course as she ran from an attempted sexual assault.

The state legislature in April abolished capital punishment, but only for future crimes. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and key state lawmakers had insisted on that as a condition of their support for repeal in a long-running debate that focused on the Petit case.

Earlier coverage of the racial bias lawsuit and Connecticut's repeal of the death penalty begins at the links.

Racial & Geographic Disparities in Connecticut Death Sentences

There are more issues surrounding Connecticut's existing death sentences.  In April, the state abolished the death penalty for future cases.  Another challenge to the existing death sentences has been lodged following passage of the repeal legislation.

"Trial set for challenge to Conn. death penalty," is the AP report via the CT Post.

After seven years of legal wrangling, a trial date has been set for an appeal by death row inmates alleging racial and geographic biases in how state prosecutors seek the death penalty.

A trial before Rockville Superior Court Judge Samuel Sferrazza is scheduled to begin Sept. 5, a date set by another judge Friday. But lawyers in the case say there could be more delays because Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and state lawmakers repealed the state's death penalty for future capital crimes this year. The inmates' attorneys say they're still deciding whether to raise the repeal issue in the bias case.

Some say racial bias case make sense

Prosecutors and defense lawyers in the state expect the constitutionality of the repeal for future crimes only to be decided at a later date by the state Supreme Court. Some attorneys in the bias case say it makes sense to put their trial on hold until after the high court decides the issue.

"Why would you continue this huge piece of litigation ... if the repeal is not valid prospectively?" asked public defender Michael Courtney, who is representing home invasion triple killer Steven Hayes.

State prosecutors say they would oppose any effort in the bias case to raise the repeal issue.

"Our position is that the racial disparity litigation should go forward as soon as possible," said Mark Dupuis, a spokesman for the chief state's attorney's office.

The Hartford Courant reports, "Legal Question: Should Death Row Inmates Be Allowed In Court Together?."  It's written by David Owens.

Lawyers representing 10 of the state's 11 death row inmates in a challenge the fairness of the way the death penalty is administered in Connecticut will be ready to proceed with the trial Sept. 5, the lawyers told a Superior Court judge Friday. First, however, a key logistical issue will have to be addressed — whether the 10 condemned men will be allowed in a courtroom at the same time.

Attorneys representing 10 of the state's 11 death row inmates in a challenge to the fairness of the way the death penalty is administered in Connecticut told a judge Friday they will be ready to proceed with the trial on Sept. 5.

First, however, a key logistical issue will have to be addressed — whether the 10 condemned men will be allowed in a courtroom at the same time.

The habeas corpus trial was to have started Tuesday, but was delayed after one of the lawyers had a medical issue. The inmates are claiming that there is racial, ethnic and geographic disparity in the way the death penalty is applied. The recent repeal of the death penalty in Connecticut for future crimes is also expected to be raised in the trial.

The trial is scheduled to take place in Superior Court in Rockville. The lawyers were supposed to be in a courtroom and the death row inmates were supposed to be at Northern Correctional Institution in Somers, where they would monitor the trial using a video link.

Judge Elliot N. Solomon, the attorneys representing the state and the state Department of Correction thought the issue was settled.

But J. Patten Brown III, the attorney representing death row inmate Todd Rizzo, said Friday he never agreed to such an arrangement. He said his client's right to be present at the trial is guaranteed by state law, the state constitution and the U.S. Constitution. Several of the other attorneys agreed.

Earlier coverage from Connecticut begins at the link.

Ohio News Roundup

"Ohio death penalty review committee meets again," is an AP report via the Dayton Daily News.

A state Supreme Court task force analyzing the effectiveness of Ohio's capital punishment law planned another meeting Thursday as part of its yearlong review.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor has convened the task force while making it clear it won't debate whether the state should have the death penalty.

The committee of prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges and death penalty experts are looking at a variety of issues, from how the law affects minorities to the role of clemency.

The committee is also studying whether death sentences are proportional, meaning that any one death sentence is similar to others that have also been handed down.

Also from Ohio, AP's Andrew Welsh-Huggins files, "Death as bargaining chip? Ohio prosecutor slammed."  It's via the Coschocton Tribune.

Within days of a drug-related slaying in suburban Cleveland, six men were indicted on charges that carried the possibility of a death sentence. Six months later, all had been allowed to plead to lesser charges, including four who received probation and never went to prison.

In short, the men quickly went from facing the possibility of being strapped to a gurney and having 5 grams of pentobarbital injected into their veins, to prison sentences more typical for robbers and thieves.

"It probably was a negotiating tool," said defense attorney Reuben Sheperd, who represented defendant Alex Ford. "You'll be more motivated than you were in other circumstances."

Such scenarios are typical in the county home to Cleveland, where prosecutor Bill Mason pursues dozens of offenders on capital charges each year at added expense to taxpayers and at the risk of some defendants ending up on death row for charges that would be minor elsewhere, even as the number of death penalty prosecutions plummets in Ohio and nationwide, according to an analysis of records by theAssociated Press.

Elsewhere in Ohio, prosecutors are pursuing only the most heinous crimes as death penalty cases and are refusing to plea bargain, or are using a 2005 law that allows them to seek life with no chance of parole and never place capital punishment on the table.

And:

Defense attorneys have long complained about the high number of capital indictments in Cuyahoga County, a practice that precedes Mason but that he continued after first taking office in 2000. But now one of the state's most conservative and pro-death penalty prosecutors is weighing in.

Joe Deters, prosecutor in Hamilton County, renewed questions about Cuyahoga County's approach during meetings of an Ohio Supreme Court task force. The group, which meets again Thursday, is looking for ways to improve the state's death penalty law.

"To use the death penalty to force a plea bargain, I think it's unethical to do that," Deters said in an interview.

Earlier coverage of Ohio's Joint Task Force to Study Administration of the Death Penalty begins at the link.

Commentary From Colorado

"It's time to kill the death penalty," is the title of Barry Noreen's column in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

No one likes to go easy on crime in an election year and there was no attempt to end Colorado’s death penalty law during this session of the Colorado General Assembly.

Too bad, because the ultimate sanction is unevenly applied in Colorado, it’s irrational, it does not serve as a deterrent to murder and costs us a lot of money. And there’s always that chance that we convict people who are innocent.

Last week, Robert Dewey, 51, was exonerated of the rape and murder charges he was convicted of in 1996 in Mesa County after DNA evidence proved he could not have been the killer.

Good thing we didn’t execute Mr. Dewey, right?

And:

Cold-blooded killers belong in prison for life, but death penalty cases cost more money than the cost of a prison cell. And lethal injections don’t make us safer.

Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.  Related posts are in the abolition and column category index.